


Morix: Secrets beneath Secrets

by digitaldreams



Series: Morix [2]
Category: Original Work, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Morix, Read the other one first, Updates Every Thursday, ace attorney is just for structure, at all, back on my writing bull shit, just so we're clear there aren't any canon characters in this one, second in the morix series, sequel time, the official name is morix, this is all original, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2020-01-11 21:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 43
Words: 215,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18432416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitaldreams/pseuds/digitaldreams
Summary: A year after the Interpol murder and subsequent kidnapping, Morix Law Offices has mostly returned to normal. Its members are fighting the corruption plaguing their legal system alongside its newest faces, Victoria von Graye and Cormous Arme. However, despite the fall of Occisor, danger still lurks around the corner. The infamous spy, the Oracle of the Law, is facing just as much opposition as ever before. Tension builds among the faces of the Oracle company until the possibility of a traitor comes to light, indicating that perhaps the war between Occisor and Oracle is just beginning...To end the corruption the agency has sworn itself against, they will need to uncover secrets beneath secrets even with the hardships thrown their way.





	1. Return to the Turnabout, Part 1

_"I wish I didn't have to do this... It was supposed to be a simple operation..."_

*BANG*

_"Wait... That was...!"_

*BANG*

*SPLASH*

"Who's there...?! Ah! Is that...?!"

**"I wish it didn't have to come to this, but this is what you get."**

**January 26**

**Defendant Lobby No. 1**

**9:35 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

I found myself tapping my foot impatiently on the ground before me as I sat on the couch. I shot a sideways glance at Mr. Morix, silently begging him to find something to talk about. He didn't seem to notice, instead looking over the case file we had been handed half an hour ago for what felt like the hundredth time.

My name is Deirdre Brigit. I work as an attorney at Morix Law Offices, an agency focused on finding clients innocent in court. The owner, Mr. Cotoli Morix, is the one helping me out with this case. Of course, his help would probably be much more helpful if either of us knew what we were doing...

"Do you know where she is?" I asked of him.

"I'm afraid not. I don't know any more than you do," Mr. Morix told me with a shake of his head. "She should be here soon though. I can't imagine the defendant would be this late to her own trial."

"Sorry we're late."

I looked up when I heard the voice. A tall man was standing there with a rugged and tired smile on his face. There was a girl at his side. She had short blonde hair and wore a white lab coat over a purple shirt. She had pale blue jeans on with white tennis shoes. Her eyes were blue and distant from behind her violet glasses. I noticed her fingers, which were hidden by black gloves, were intertwined tightly.

"Hey there, Detective Erikson," Mr. Morix said with a smile, rising to his feet. "I'm glad to see you."

"I'm sorry it took us so long. The traffic was awful," Detective Erikson explained. "At least I got her here on time. I know you don't have much time to ask for details, but it's something, right?"

"We appreciate it regardless," Mr. Morix assured him. "You must be Aria Claris."

The young girl looked up silently. Despite appearing to be about my age, she was half a foot shorter at least. When we met eyes, a flash of recognition crossed her eyes. Something about her felt familiar to me too, but I didn't make any blatant remarks on the matter.

"I'll leave you three to talk," Detective Erikson told us before walking away. "Trial starts in twenty minutes," he managed to call over his shoulder before leaving earshot.

I looked down at the young woman, Aria Claris, it seemed, and smiled gently in hopes of consoling her. "What have you been charged with?" I asked gently.

"Murder," Ms. Claris answered bluntly.

I glanced over to Mr. Morix, praying he had something to say to me on the matter. I hadn't been given the chance to look over the case's details, and from what I could tell, the file he had didn't contain much information anyways. He didn't respond, instead shrugging loosely.

We had been assigned to this case a few hours after closing time the day before. Mr. Morix had called me at nine to say we had a trial to take care of. I didn't know anything about it, as apparently the case was open and shut. We had been given the case last minute when the previous lawyers bailed and said they couldn't do it.

Unfortunately, because we were given the case so late, we didn't have time to investigate. We were going in blind. The last time something like this had happened, it had been when Lily, one of my coworkers, was trying to solve a murder involving a stabbing and an arson. At the very least, Mr. Morix knew what he was doing at the time, but in this case, we didn't even know the name of the murder victim. All we knew was that somebody had died and our client, Ms. Claris, was being accused of it.

"What do you know about the case? Who are you being accused of killing?" I prompted, hoping it would be enough to get an answer out of her.

"Her name is Flora Rensicks. She was a teacher at a college near here," Ms. Claris replied. Her tone was deadpan, her face blank. She almost looked more robot than human.

"What was your relationship with the victim like? How did you two know each other?" I questioned.

"She was doing me a favor. I was doing her a favor. It doesn't go further than that," Ms. Claris answered. "I don't even know why they think I killed her. I barely knew her. We had only been talking for a few days."

"Where was the crime scene?" I asked next. "How did the victim die?"

Ms. Claris opened her mouth to speak, but she was ultimately cut off when the familiar voice of a bailiff rang out. "The trial will be starting in less than five minutes!" he declared.

I looked to Ms. Claris and Mr. Morix. Ms. Claris didn't meet my gaze, instead sharing a telling stare with Mr. Morix for no more than three seconds before walking quickly towards the door.

Mr. Morix watched her disappear before turning to me. "I suppose she's just shy," he proposed.

"Shy or not, I was hoping we could get a few other details out of her," I sighed. "I guess it will have to wait for the trial."

"The prosecution should be willing to fill us in. I asked for that favor in advance," Mr. Morix assured me. "Come on. There's no point in loitering around out here. We have a job to do, don't we?"

I nodded my agreement and followed him into the courtroom. I had no idea what this trial held, but I was already getting nervous about the outcome due to our lack of knowledge.

**January 26**

**Courtroom No. 1**

**10:00 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

When we arrived in the courtroom, I glanced around it silently. It had been months since I was last in here. Cases had slowed down dramatically since my previous endeavors regarding a murder at Interpol. We had barely gotten anything since then. While the aura of the courtroom was unfamiliar, part of it was somewhat cozy at the same time. It felt good to be back, even if the feeling of knowing what I was doing had long since abandoned me.

The prosecution on the other side of the courtroom was made up of two women. I recognized them both. One was Prosecutor Polly Burke, Mr. Morix's current girlfriend. They had been together for two years, I had learned recently, though he masked it rather well. While she was stern, she had a caring heart beneath that rough façade.

The other woman was Mr. Morix's younger sister, Prosecutor Sora Lin. We had met many months ago, but I had never seen her in court. She appeared to be the leader of this case, so I was going to have to figure out her angle while simultaneously learning details about the murder. In other words, I was likely in for a challenge.

The judge, one Ophani Diaphan, sat in her regular seat high above the rest of the courtroom. Her mask shone dully in the overhead lighting as she played around with her gavel mindlessly. She watched in silence as the defendant took the witness stand.

Once Ms. Claris was in place, Judge Diaphan spoke. "Court is now in session for the trial of Aria Claris," she announced. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"

I looked over to Mr. Morix, who nodded silently, before giving my reply. "The defense is ready, Your Honor."

"The prosecution is also ready," Prosecutor Lin declared. It felt odd seeing her in such a solemn setting. Prosecutor Lin was normally such a bubbly and friendly woman. It was something new entirely to see her act so down to earth and serious.

"Prosecutor Lin, please give your opening statement to the court," Judge Diaphan announced, getting right down to business.

Prosecutor Lin nodded and picked up a piece of paper. I could see through its thin surface with the help of the bright overhead lights. I couldn't read the tiny words scratched onto the page, but I could tell there were a lot of them. "The defendant is one Aria Claris. She is being accused of the murder of Flora Rensicks. The crime took place yesterday at the local Blackgate Community College. The victim was shot to death in a room overlooking the gymnasium of the school. Here, I have a diagram of the scene of the crime."

Prosecutor Lin approached the defense bench where Mr. Morix and I were standing to hand us a map. She met my eyes for a brief moment. I saw something in her gaze that said something serious was taking place, but I didn't speak on it. Instead, I turned my attention to the map.

"The gymnasium of Blackgate is on the larger side. The main area is where sports are played. There are bleachers that can fold out for sporting events. However, at the time of the crime, the bleachers were shut, so they're shut in this diagram as well," Prosecutor Lin continued. "At the top, you can see a small square room. That's the commentary area where students in the broadcasting department watch games and talk about them for when the games hit live TV. Only broadcasting students and members of the staff are allowed up here ordinarily."

"If that's the case, how did the defendant get up there?" I asked with a frown. I didn't know much about this case due to our lack of investigation time, but from what I could tell, Ms. Claris wasn't a student or teacher at the school. She seemed far too young to be the latter, and she would have told us if she attended the school for sure.

"The defendant has a special relation with the victim. About a month ago, Ms. Claris approached the victim and asked for her help in analyzing something. The victim was one of the forensic science teachers at the school and would be able to help her should she need any pieces of evidence looked at with a scientific viewpoint. The victim agreed to help her, but only if she did a favor for her in return. Since the victim was in charge of the graduation ceremony taking place the day of the crime, she asked for the defendant to help her set up the auditorium for graduation," Prosecutor Lin went on.

"In a nutshell, the victim needed help with decorations, and in exchange for having something analyzed, the defendant helped her," Prosecutor Burke cut in.

"Their relationship should have been built off mutual benefits, but in the end, something happened to make it crumble. The defendant grew impatient with how long it was taking the victim to analyze her evidence. Apparently, the day before the crime, she asked the victim to return her evidence to her, but the victim refused. We believe this to be the motive," Prosecutor Lin declared.

"What is this mysterious piece of evidence the defendant wanted analyzed?" Judge Diaphan asked.

"We aren't sure. We pressed the defendant on it excessively yesterday, but she refused to say a word. She said she never got it back though. The victim supposedly still had it last time she was aware," Prosecutor Burke replied.

"They seemed to get along up until the day before the crime in other words... It's certainly something to keep in mind, though I highly doubt the defendant committed this crime," Mr. Morix remarked.

"What makes you say that?" I questioned.

"I looked over the details of the file we were given earlier. There wasn't a picture of the crime scene, but there were details regarding the victim. Apparently, she was a foot taller than the defendant. Somehow, I doubt a small girl like Ms. Claris would have been able to overpower her," Mr. Morix answered.

"The prosecution now presents the photo of the crime scene to the court," announced Prosecutor Burke. "We also have a copy of the autopsy report for observation purposes."

When we got our hands on the picture and autopsy report, Mr. Morix and I decided to look at the picture first. It was of a woman with dark brown hair collapsed on the ground. She was splayed on the ground with a prominent wound on her chest. There was writing beside her that spelled out 'CLARIS' in bold, bloodied letters. A gun was discarded at her side.

"The victim died to a gunshot wound to the chest at point blank range. A bullet hit her heart and killed her instantly," Prosecutor Burke announced. "We believe the defendant entered the room overlooking the gymnasium and shot her to death."

"It's worth noting though that there were two shots fired from the gun used to kill her. One of them hit the window behind her, shattering the glass. The second shot hit the victim and killed her. The gun didn't have any fingerprints on it, as they were all wiped away," Prosecutor Lin continued. "The remaining four bullets were all found within the gun, so there's no way any other bullets were fired at the time of the crime or otherwise."

"Are there any witnesses to the crime?" I asked next.

"There are two. There's Clarith Blake, who saw the defendant exit the gymnasium near the time of the crime. Next, there's Denton Barr, who also saw something relating to the crime," Prosecutor Burke replied. "However, we'll get to them soon enough. Our first testimony won't come from either one of them. We'll be having the detective assigned to the case, Detective Erikson, testify first to offer us with some details regarding the murder."

"May we call him now, Your Honor?" Prosecutor Lin asked, looking up to Judge Diaphan with an innocent smile.

"Go right ahead," nodded Judge Diaphan.

"The prosecution calls Detective Toby Erikson to the witness stand," Prosecutor Lin declared, pointing triumphantly to the stand.

Upon hearing his name, Detective Erikson made his way to the stand. He looked to Prosecutor Burke, waiting for her to prompt him further. I knew exactly what statement he was waiting for.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court record," Prosecutor Burke instructed when they met eyes. She was behaving much more professionally than the bright and chipper Prosecutor Lin standing at her side, that was for sure.

"My name is Toby Erikson. I work as a homicide detective at the local precinct," Detective Erikson answered. "I'm working as the lead detective on this case."

"Please tell the court about the events we believe led up to the crime," Prosecutor Lin told him.

"I'll get right to it," Detective Erikson nodded before beginning his testimony.

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ Breakdown of the Case ~**

_-"The murder took place at the local Blackgate Community College, specifically in the room overlooking the gym."_

_-"The victim, Flora Rensicks, was doing a favor for the defendant by analyzing evidence for her."_

_-"When the suspect asked for the evidence back, the victim denied her and kept it."_

_-"In a desperate bid to get the evidence back, the defendant shot her to death with a gun."_

_-"She took the evidence off the victim and left her to die."_

_-"The victim managed to write her killer's name in blood before succumbing to her wounds."_

"And we still don't know what this mysterious piece of evidence is?" Judge Diaphan asked with a frown.

"I'm afraid not. The defendant claims it is irrelevant to the case and refuses to say what it is," Detective Erikson explained.

"Will anything change your mind about telling us?" Prosecutor Lin asked, turning her attention to the defendant.

Ms. Claris shook her head. "It's not related to the case. I don't even know where it is. It's hard to explain without showing it off anyways... I don't have it. You would have known it if you found it on the body, so I'm going to assume it's missing," she said solemnly. Her monotone speech only made her seem more robotic than before.

"Can you at least try and tell us what it is?" Judge Diaphan pushed.

"Perhaps we should let the defense examine the testimony first," suggested Prosecutor Burke. "We'll have more time to ask about the mystery evidence later on."

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ Breakdown of the Case ~**

_-"The murder took place at the local Blackgate Community College, specifically in the room overlooking the gym."_

_-"The victim, Flora Rensicks, was doing a favor for the defendant by analyzing evidence for her."_

_-"When the suspect asked for the evidence back, the victim denied her and kept it."_

_-"In a desperate bid to get the evidence back, the defendant shot her to death with a gun."_

_-"She took the evidence off the victim and left her to die."_

_-"The victim managed to write her killer's name in blood before succumbing to her wounds."_

"Objection!"

I couldn't help but smirk to myself as I pulled out the autopsy report beneath the pile of papers I had regarding the case. Granted, it was a small pile, but it was something. "The victim couldn't have possibly written the defendant's name in blood," I declared.

"And why not?" asked Detective Erikson.

"It says in the autopsy report that the victim died instantly. The gunshot wound killed her right away, so she wouldn't have been able to write the defendant's name. I propose that somebody is trying to frame my client for killing the victim. After all, it would make no logical sense for her to write her own name in blood if she killed the victim. It would only make her look suspicious, and it would likely prove itself to be damning evidence if somebody managed to overlook the autopsy report," I explained.

"I suppose it would make sense if somebody framed her," murmured Mr. Morix. "After all, we believe in our clients. She wouldn't kill anybody."

"You seem to believe in her despite barely knowing her," I commented softly.

"You should do the same, Deirdre. It's a matter of what we know about the case and its details. The people surrounding the murder point to why we should believe in our client. I can't give you all the answers right now, but I have faith you'll figure it out eventually," he answered with a small smile.

I didn't ask him for clarification on what he meant, as I got the feeling that since he had resolved to keep this secret to himself, he wasn't going to be opening up to anyone. Only his sisters could worm information like that out of him, and from the way he was talking, I already got the feeling Prosecutor Lin knew.

"If the defendant and victim didn't write the name in blood, then who do you propose did it? I need a name," Prosecutor Burke pushed with narrowed eyes and a harsh glare.

I opened my mouth to speak, but a hand on my shoulder from Mr. Morix had me pausing. "We don't have any details that could point to a true culprit," he told me. "She's trying to bait you into saying something you'll regret later. I've gone up against her in court enough to know how her gambits work."

"I suppose we'll need to just wait and see if a potential culprit makes themselves known," I said.

"I agree. I already see a contradiction in the facts. I don't know how we can propose it with this testimony though. We'll need to talk to someone else to bring that detail into the light," Mr. Morix went on.

"Is there somebody you want to speak with in particular?" I questioned.

"As a matter of fact, yes. The prosecution mentioned there were two witnesses to this case. We can speak to either Clarith Blake or Denton Barr. We got more details about the testimony details of Clarith Blake. I think we should start with her," Mr. Morix explained.

"What are you whispering about over there?" Prosecutor Burke cut in.

"The defense wishes to speak with another witness regarding the case," I said firmly.

"Oh? Who is it you want to talk to?" Prosecutor Lin asked with a tilt of her head.

"We would like to call Clarith Blake to the witness stand," I announced.

Prosecutor Lin looked to Detective Erikson. "Is that alright with you? Are you okay with handing over the stand to someone else so soon?" she questioned.

Detective Erikson nodded. "Of course. You know what you're doing. I trust you'll find the truth," he replied. He walked away from the witness stand, sharing a peculiar look with Ms. Claris as he passed by. She stared at him, her features bearing no expression, and he frowned in return before taking his place near the prosecution bench.

Not long after, a young woman appeared in his place. She was short in stature, being about the same height as our mysterious and silent client. She had white hair that fell down her back and reached her waist. She had a white dress on with black flats. Her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. She had a pale gray jacket on that fell over her hands, which were hidden by black fingerless gloves. I couldn't tell if she was meeting my eyes, but she seemed pretty interested in me and Mr. Morix for whatever reason.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Prosecutor Lin demanded, tapping her nails on the prosecution bench.

"C-Clarith Blake... I-I'm a intern at Blackgate Community College..." the girl replied, fiddling around with the fingers on her gloves.

"You wanted to call her to the witness stand. Do you have any questions for her before she starts talking?" Prosecutor Burke asked, crossing her arms.

"I have one," Mr. Morix spoke up. "I want to know why there was a graduation celebration taking place in January. Don't most schools get out of session in April or May?"

"Oh, I can explain that... Blackgate works off a semester schedule rather than a full year... There are some students who finish up their time there in the first semester of a year... Of course, the ceremony had to be pushed back this year due to snow days that halted our progression... It's an odd time, but it couldn't be helped," Ms. Blake answered. It was difficult to hear her above the whispers of the courtroom. I hoped she would try and speak up for her official testimony, as it would be nearly impossible to hear her if she didn't. My sense of hearing had always been strong, so if even I was having trouble hearing something, it was certainly an issue.

"Anything else?" Prosecutor Burke asked.

Mr. Morix tapped my shoulder before pointing to something on the defense bench. I frowned. "Is this... the diagram of the gymnasium?" I questioned in a hushed tone.

"Yes. I want you to look over it. Remember how I mentioned I had noticed a contradiction but didn't know how to point it out? I think we'll be able to bring it to light with Ms. Blake's testimony and this diagram. Give it a few moments. I'm sure you'll see an issue with it when she's done explaining what she saw," he explained softly.

"Defense?" Prosecutor Burke prompted impatiently.

"Sorry about that. We had to discuss something briefly. We're back," Mr. Morix assured her, a relaxed smile on his face.

Prosecutor Burke's tension seemed to melt away when she noticed how calm he was. "Alright. I get it. Witness, it's time for you to begin your testimony. Tell us about what you saw the time of the murder, okay?" she said, turning her attention towards Ms. Blake.

"I'll get right to it," Ms. Blake nodded.

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ Seeing the Defendant ~**

_-"I was helping Ms. Rensicks out with the graduation ceremony..."_

_-"I've been interning with her for a semester now, and she wanted my help, even if I don't go there yet."_

_-"I was carrying a few streamers over to the auditorium when I saw her..."_

_-"Aria was leaving the gymnasium with blood on her hand!"_

_-"She didn't see me... She was shaking and seemed out of it..."_

_-"I could smell the blood radiating from her... And I managed to catch something off her..."_

"You saw the defendant leaving the crime scene with blood on her hand?" I asked, a frown on my face. This was already shaping up to be a disaster.

"Yeah... I did. She looked pale too," Ms. Blake responded, fingering with the edge of her hair. "I didn't think this was the case at the time, but I guess she was nervous because of the killing..."

I turned to Mr. Morix with a frown. "I don't understand. What does the diagram have to do with this?" I questioned in a hiss. I looked down at the diagram, praying internally it would grant me a hint as to what Mr. Morix had been talking about all this time. It appeared there were two exits from the gymnasium, one from the upper room and one from the lower area where games took place. Unlike most gymnasiums, there wasn't an exit on either side. Instead, there was just the sole bottom floor exit at the southern end of the gym.

"I don't think we'll be able to show it yet. We need to resolve this issue first. I want to know what the 'something' is Ms. Blake got. We'll get to the diagram eventually. For now, it's time to press more information out of her," Mr. Morix told me.

"I thought that was suspicious too. I'm glad we're on the same page," I nodded curtly. "I'm going to assume the diagram will come up later though. You seem pretty confident that's going to be the case."

"Trust me. It's going to be relevant soon. It's all about the way Ms. Claris exited the crime scene. That's what Ms. Blake's testimony seems to be focused on. If we can poke a hole in that, which we'll need the diagram to do, we'll both ruin her credibility and show Ms. Claris is innocent," Mr. Morix said.

"Again, if you're done talking, we have a testimony to examine," Prosecutor Burke cut in impatiently.

Mr. Morix looked to me and chuckled under his breath. "I apologize for her. She can get in a bit of a rush sometimes. I suppose you could call her fiercely competitive," he commented.

"You're so radically different. In a way, it's strange to know you get along so well," I admitted.

"Opposites attract," Mr. Morix shrugged.

"Defense, it's time for your cross-examination," declared Judge Diaphan.

"We'll get right to it, Your Honor," I nodded.

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ Seeing the Defendant ~**

_-"I was helping Ms. Rensicks out with the graduation ceremony..."_

_-"I've been interning with her for a semester now, and she wanted my help, even if I don't go there yet."_

_-"I was carrying a few streamers over to the auditorium when I saw her..."_

_-"Aria was leaving the gymnasium with blood on her hand!"_

_-"She didn't see me... She was shaking and seemed out of it..."_

_-"I could smell the blood radiating from her... And I managed to catch something off her..."_

"Hold it!"

"What exactly did you get from the defendant at this time?" I asked with a frown.

"I snapped a picture of her leaving the crime scene," Ms. Blake explained.

"The prosecution would like to present a copy of this photo to the court," Prosecutor Lin announced.

"Did you have this picture all along?" Mr. Morix asked with a frown.

"We did. We didn't know when we should present it, so we decided instead to just wait until Ms. Blake was ready to give her testimony," Prosecutor Burke replied.

Prosecutor Lin handed us the picture. Mr. Morix accepted it from her with a gracious nod before setting it on the bench for both of us to see.

"It's in black and white," I couldn't help but say. It was the first thing I noticed about the picture. The next thing I noticed was that it detailed Ms. Claris coming around a corner with a dizzied look in her eyes. There was a substance that certainly appeared to be blood dripping from one hand as well.

"I was taking themed pictures of the graduation setup for Ms. Rensicks... She wanted a few in black and white, so my camera was set to that filter. I was too frazzled to change it," Ms. Blake explained. "I could smell the blood though... I'm sure that's what it was..."

"This sure is incriminating," Mr. Morix murmured. "However, we have a way to refute this piece of evidence. I know there's a contradiction between her testimony and the evidence we have."

"You saw the defendant coming out of the gymnasium area, yes?" Prosecutor Burke asked.

"I did... It was at 12:30 PM. I could tell by the timer on the camera from when the picture was taken," Ms. Blake answered.

"That's five minutes after the death of the victim," Prosecutor Lin said. "She died at 12:25 according to the autopsy report."

"I already get the feeling this case is going to be much more complicated than we thought," I muttered.

"We won't be able to take care of things unless we start from where we are now though. Look back over the evidence. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out where to go next. I think it's time we have Ms. Blake repeat her testimony one more time," Mr. Morix told me.

I nodded. "You're right. Let's get right to it," I agreed, looking to Ms. Blake as a prompt for her to begin once again.  


	2. Return to the Turnabout, Part 2

** January 26 **

** Courtroom No. 1 **

** 10:30 AM **

** Deirdre Brigit **

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination  ** ** ~ **

** ~ Seeing the Defendant ~ **

_ -“I was helping Ms. Rensicks out with the graduation ceremony...” _

_ -“I’ve been interning with her for a semester now, and she wanted my help, even if I don’t go there yet.” _

_ -“I was carrying a few streamers over to the auditorium when I saw her...” _

_ -“Aria was leaving the gymnasium with blood on her hand!” _

“Hold it!”

“I noticed on the diagram of the gymnasium that it has two exits. There’s one exit up in the commentary room accompanied by a stairwell. The other exit is on the ground level where the actual sporting events take place,” I frowned. “Which exit did you see the defendant leave from?”

“It was the lower level she was leaving from,” Ms. Blake explained. “It’s hard to get between the two levels. You  have to  travel around the whole gymnasium in order to change levels. You must leave from one exit, walk around the gym from the outside, and then enter the other side.”

“Please add that statement to your testimony,” I instructed. I was starting to get an idea as to what Mr.  Morix  had been hinting at before. I was getting a better concept of how to prove it too, which was best for all of us.

“Alright...” Ms. Blake said softly. She didn’t seem to understand why I was asking her to do this, but I got the feeling she would catch on soon enough. 

_ -“ _ _ She left from the lower entrance of the gymnasium.” _

“Objection!”

“The defendant couldn’t have possibly left from the lower entrance at the time of the crime,” I smirked. “If she had blood on her, she wouldn’t have left from the bottom. It would make no sense. The victim was shot up in the commentary room, and there’s no way she could have moved between the two without either being spotted.”

“Objection!”

“The defendant could have killed the victim up at the top and then left for the lower level to make herself seem innocent,” Prosecutor Burke suggested.

“Objection!” 

“But why would she have blood on her hand? She would have washed it off had she gotten blood on her hand instead of just walking around with blood dripping from her. It would make her seem incredibly suspicious,” I pointed out. “Plus, she had no reason to have blood on her hand.”

“Objection!”

“There was blood writing at the scene of the crime. She would have to get some blood on her if she was going to write in the blood,” Prosecutor Burke pointed out. 

“Objection!”

“Why would she write her own name in blood at the scene of the crime?” I asked. “It wouldn’t make any sense. Besides, that would only get blood on her finger. From what I can tell, the witness saw her hand dripping with blood.”

“It’s true... Her hand was practically soaked in it...” Ms. Blake cut in. “I don’t think just writing in blood would have gotten that much blood on her...”

“I have one more question,” Mr.  Morix  said next, a frown on his face. “Was any blood found down on the ground level of the gymnasium?”

“I’m afraid not. No blood was found anywhere outside of the commentary room,” Prosecutor Lin spoke up. 

“In that case, that begs the question... What was the substance dripping from her hand? Think about it. If the victim died up in the commentary room and the defendant was down below, she couldn’t have gotten blood on her hand in such an excessive quantity. I don’t know what she could have possibly gotten on her hand, but we need to figure that out next,” Mr.  Morix  pointed out. 

“I don’t know what it could be either...” Ms. Blake murmured with a shake of her head. 

“The defendant being down below doesn’t prove for sure that the defendant didn’t commit the crime,” Prosecutor Burke cut in. “She could have easily shot the victim from down below in the gym.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. Look at the picture of the crime scene, and you’ll know exactly what I mean,” Mr.  Morix  said with a shake of his head. “Deirdre, I’m sure you’ve noticed what I’m talking about. If the defendant had shot the victim from down below in the gymnasium, then the crime scene would look very different. For one, there wouldn’t be writing in blood, but anyone could have easily done that, and we already know she couldn’t have written that message to begin with. The prosecution believes that, but we know it isn’t true. If we can show without a shadow of a doubt she was in the gymnasium, we can prove her innocence.”

“We already know she was down in the gym from the testimony of Ms. Blake... I’m afraid I don’t understand,” I frowned.

“It’s about more than her testimony. We’ll get to that soon enough though. For now, think about how the crime scene would look different if the victim was shot by our client from below in the gymnasium. There would be a great difference,” Mr.  Morix  said. “Look at the picture. You’ll surely figure out what I mean.”

I scanned over the crime scene photo before gasping. “I think I have it... You’re talking about the broken window, aren’t you?” I realized, turning to look at Mr. Morix.

“Exactly. If the victim had been shot from the gymnasium, the glass window would have broken in towards the dead body, but no glass is in the crime scene. The glass is instead presumably on the floor of the gymnasium,” Mr. Morix smiled. 

“Was glass found on the floor of the gymnasium?” I asked of the prosecution.

“As a matter of fact, yes, there is,” Prosecutor Lin frowned. “What about it?”

“The defendant couldn’t have killed the victim. She was down in the gymnasium, and since the glass was also on the gymnasium floor from the bullet that missed, she couldn’t have done it. The glass would have broken the other way,” I declared. 

“If the defendant couldn’t have shot the victim from down there and she wasn’t up in the commentary room, she couldn’t have committed the crime,” Mr.  Morix  smirked. “All that’s left to figure out now is to learn what the mystery substance that was on her hand was...”

“I can answer that question.”

I turned to the witness stand and saw that Ms. Claris had taken the witness stand. She looked as robotic as ever, a frown on her face. Her eyes were expressionless.

“Ms. Claris, you can’t just take the witness stand whenever you please,” Judge  Diaphan  cut in. 

“I know what the substance on my hand was,” she spoke up, ignoring Judge  Diaphan’s  actions. 

“Then what is it?” Prosecutor Lin asked with a tilt of her head. 

“It’s paint,” Ms. Claris explained. “For the graduation, I had to carry tins of paint around so they could be used for the decorations.”

“And the paint got on your hand,” Mr.  Morix  nodded. “I see... Did you spill it or something?”

“I did, as a matter of fact. I tripped shortly before the gunshots rang out, and the paint got everywhere. I went to clean up the paint by getting paper towels from the bathroom... I got most of the paint cleaned up, but when I was nearly done, I heard a gunshot. I panicked and froze. I think I accidentally stuck my hand in the paint while I was panicking,” Ms. Claris went on.

“We can’t take the testimony of a criminal for evidence in her own trial,” Prosecutor Burke said sternly. “Where’s the proof this actually happened? Are you really saying the paint could possibly  be  confused for blood?”

“Do a forensics test on the gym floor. I dare you. You’ll see traces of forest green paint on the ground of the gym. It’s not red paint. It’s green. I don’t know how it could possibly be confused for red, but it was,” Ms. Claris shrugged. 

“Let’s ask Detective Erikson to investigate the gymnasium floor. If Ms. Claris is telling the truth, we should find traces of green paint on the floor. Her cleanup attempt couldn’t have possibly been perfect if she was so rattled by the gunshots,” Prosecutor Lin suggested. “Detective?”

Detective Erikson rose to his feet from his place near the prosecution bench. “I’ll head down to the school now and look into it myself. I should have results in the next half hour,” he announced before leaving the courtroom.

“What are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Judge  Diaphan  questioned. 

“I have a question,” I announced. “I want to know how the witness possibly mistook supposedly green paint for red blood. I know she took a black and white picture of the defendant leaving the crime scene, but that doesn’t explain why Ms. Blake herself didn’t see the green paint and how it was distinctly different in color from the red of blood. That sort of contradiction... It’s much greater than a simple mistake.”

“Ms. Blake, what is your explanation for this? Where did the mistake regarding the color of the substance on the defendant’s hand come from?” Ms.  Diaphan  asked, a frown on her face. 

“I believe she should testify about the mistake in color of the paint,” Mr. Morix suggested. “We’ll be able to get more answers out of her that way.”

“In that case, Ms. Blake, please explain to the court about how you could have made this mistake,” Prosecutor Burke instructed. I could tell she wasn’t satisfied about how she was losing her grip on the case, but she didn’t openly complain about her losses.

“Alright...” Ms. Blake nodded with a nervous gulp.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Mistake in Color ~ **

_ -“I was focusing on my camera at the time Aria walked by.” _

_ -“My camera is red in color, so I might have just messed up in distinguishing the two.” _

_ -“It’s not a big deal... I just made a mistake in the color of the paint. It isn’t a big deal.” _

_ -“I didn’t see her for very long. I didn’t exactly have time to make sure of what color the liquid was.” _

_ -“I was too scared she had hurt someone and would hurt me too...” _

_ -“ _ _ There isn’t any funny business going on here. The camera is red, the paint was green. I messed up is all.” _

“So, you looked at both objects at once and simply blended them together in your panic?” Prosecutor Lin asked.

Ms. Blake nodded. “Yes... That’s what happened,” she told us. “It isn’t a big deal... I’m sorry about the mistake...”

“It’s okay, Ms. Blake... I’m sure it was harmless. We got there in the end, right?” Prosecutor Lin said with an innocent smile. 

“I think there’s something off about her testimony. She’s desperately trying to hide something. All we need to do is figure out what it is,” Mr. Morix told me. “You can tell by the look in her eyes, can’t you?”

I nodded. “It’s pretty obvious something darker is at play. There’s something wrong with the color of the camera. I can tell. She wouldn’t be so nervous about explaining her mistake otherwise... Maybe it’s because her mistake didn’t come from the color of the camera at all,” I agreed. 

“I think we should press her and see if we can get more information about that camera. It seems like the camera is going to be our ticket to figuring out why she’s  really so  nervous talking about her mistake with Ms. Claris and the paint,” Mr.  Morix  suggested. 

“Please begin your cross-examination now,” Judge  Diaphan  cutting in, gesturing for Ms. Blake to repeat her testimony.

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination  ** ** ~ **

** ~ The Mistake in Color ~ **

_ -“I was focusing on my camera at the time Aria walked by.” _

_ -“My camera is red in color, so I might have just messed up in distinguishing the two.” _

“Hold it!”

“Do you happen to have your camera on you?” I asked of Ms. Blake.

“I do, actually,” Ms. Blake nodded. She dashed away from the witness stand and headed over to where the witnesses were sitting by the prosecution. She opened a bag and pulled out a large camera. 

It looked to be rather professional. It was a yellow color, I noticed. A frown appeared on my face. Yellow? Didn’t she say it was red?

“I was using it to take pictures at the time of the crime. Ms.  Rensicks  wanted it for the yearbook,” Ms. Blake explained, holding up the camera for the court to see. 

“I think we should make a note of that camera. It’s bound to be important,” Mr.  Morix  hissed. “I think you already know why. We’re closer than ever to learning the truth behind the mistake in color regarding the things Ms. Blake came across.”

“Please continue your testimony, Ms. Blake,” I told her, jotting down a few notes about the camera to myself. I was seeing now that Ms. Blake’s testimony wasn’t as reliable as we had thought. I didn’t know where the discrepancy had come from, but I was determined to figure it out. I got the feeling it was going to blow this case wide open. 

_ -“It’s not a big deal... I just made a mistake in the color of the paint. It isn’t a big deal.” _

_ -“I didn’t see her for very long. I didn’t exactly have time to make sure of what color the liquid was.” _

_ -“I was too scared she had hurt someone and would hurt me too...” _

_ -“ _ _ There isn’t any funny business going on here. The camera is red, the paint was green. I messed up is all.” _

“Objection!”

“You said that there wasn’t anything funny going on at the time of the crime, but I think there’s certainly something wrong happening here... You said the color of the camera was red and the paint was green, yes?” I asked of Ms. Blake with a frown.

“Y-Yes, I did. That’s because the camera is red and the paint is green,” Ms. Blake answered. “Is something wrong with that?”

“There is, as a matter of fact... If the camera is  really as  red as you claim it to be, why is it clearly yellow?” I questioned, gesturing to the camera. “There’s an obvious shade difference between the red of the blood at the crime scene, the green of the paint, and the yellow found on the surface of this camera.”

“Is... Is it yellow...?” Ms. Blake asked, her face growing pale. “I-I could have sworn it was red...”

“I think I know why Ms. Blake made this mistake when looking at the paint on the defendant’s hand,” Mr.  Morix  whispered to me. “We know that she saw the defendant at the time after the crime. Her sight is clearly playing tricks on her... Or perhaps it was always like that.”

“How do you think this contradiction can be explained, defense?” Judge  Diaphan  asked, passing her gavel mindlessly between her hands. 

“There’s a variation of colorblindness that causes people to see red and green as a yellowish color. That shade of yellow just so happens to match the color of the witness’ camera. I believe that because she sees all three colors as the same, she assumed incorrectly the colors were something they weren’t,” I explained. “It would make sense as to why she made a mistake. She didn’t know the color and had no way of knowing.”

Buzz broke out in the gallery above us. I turned to Mr.  Morix , thinking he would have something to say on the matter. “That’s what I was thinking was the case too,” he nodded. “I can’t think of any other explanation for such a mistake.”

“I don’t know why she would try and hide it though... I guess we can see how she reacts. She might be able to explain why she hid it,” I frowned. 

Judge  Diaphan  slammed her gavel against the bench before her. “Order! Order!” she roared. “Witness, how do you respond? Why did you  hide  the truth behind your colorblindness?”

Ms. Blake began to fiddle with her glasses. She let out a sigh. “I-I didn’t think it would matter that much... I didn’t want anyone knowing either... People always make fun of me over it,” she murmured. “I’m really sorry... I didn’t mean to do anything to slow our path to the truth... I didn’t realize it would be so relevant...”

“It’s fine, witness. Instead, I want more details about what you know you saw,” Prosecutor Burke frowned. I got the feeling she was still upset about her case falling to pieces, but she was hiding it rather well. Prosecutor Lin was being relaxed and didn’t notice, or if she did, she didn’t comment. 

“I-I can do that,” Ms. Blake nodded. “Do you want me to keep talking about what I saw when I ran into Aria? I can tell you about a few other things too.”

“What other things?” Mr.  Morix  asked. He had the exact same question as I did, it seemed. If he hadn’t asked it, I certainly would have.

“I-I saw the other witness to this crime, Mr. Denton Barr. I ran into him a few minutes after seeing Aria leave the gymnasium,” Ms. Blake explained. “I’m guessing you’ll want to save that until we’re closer to calling him in though... I’m willing to do anything. It’s the least I can do to make up for my big blunder a minute ago...”

“Keep talking about when you ran into the defendant. I want to hear the full truth this time,” Prosecutor Burke told her firmly, a frown appearing on her features. “You know what color things are now too. Add them into your testimony if you  like but  be sure to keep everything factual regardless.”

Ms. Blake nodded. “I can do that... I’ll give more details than before too,” she announced, her resolve strengthened. “Okay... Here I go.”

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ When I Saw Aria ~ **

_ -“I was taking pictures for the graduation when I ran into her. Ms. Rensicks had asked me to do so.” _

_ -“Aria was walking out of the gym at the time, though she looked scared, as if she had seen a ghost.” _

_ -“There was green paint dripping from her hand, which I mistook for blood.” _

_ -“I made the mistake because I could smell the blood coming from the gym.” _

_ -“ _ _ The paint and blood from the gym both smelled strongly, so I picked up on it even outside, though I really noticed the blood since it was out of place.” _

_ -“I took the picture about at this time. She didn’t see me take it since she was too panicked.” _

_ -“Shortly afterwards, she took off. We didn’t run into each other again after that.” _

“You saw the defendant shortly after the murder... And you could smell the blood from the gym?” Mr.  Morix  asked.

“I could. It was a strong smell. I could pick up on the paint too, but the paint was normal to smell during the graduation. After all, there were multiple paint cans being taken around to touch up on the decorations,” Ms. Blake replied. “I didn’t think anything of the paint at the time since I was too focused on the blood.”

“What did you do after smelling the blood?” I questioned. I had realized that we hadn’t heard about who had called the police yet. Somebody surely had to, but I didn’t know who it was yet. It could have easily been the other witness, but there was no harm in asking Ms. Blake for the time being.

“I stopped for a moment, unsure of what to do. That was when I ran into the other witness, Mr. Denton Barr. He walked into the gym from the exit down below. I figured Ms.  Rensicks  had asked him to help us decorate, so I didn’t ask anything of him. I ran off and decided to call the police, unsure of what to do next, and they came not long after,” Ms. Blake answered.

“I wonder if we’ll be able to speak with this Denton Barr character later on. I’m sure he’ll have something to say about why he went into the gym, but for now, I guess we can cross-examine Ms. Blake’s testimony,” I said, turning to Mr. Morix.

“I don’t see any direct contradictions in it yet. I don’t even know if there are any. We’ve learned most of what we can where the encounter between the witness and our client is concerned. I guess we can try and press some more information out of her and see if we can learn more,” Mr. Morix suggested. 

“In that case, let’s get to it,” I nodded firmly.

“Please begin your cross-examination now, defense,” Judge  Diaphan  instructed.

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ When I Saw Aria ~ **

_ -“I was taking pictures for the graduation when I ran into her. Ms. Rensicks had asked me to do so.” _

_ -“ _ _ Aria was walking out of the gym at the time, though she looked scared, as if she had seen a ghost.” _

“Hold it!”

“At the time, did you know why our client was so scared?” I asked with a frown. 

“No, I didn’t. The gym area is designed in a way that keeps most people outside from hearing what goes on within its walls. Sometimes, there are games or assemblies going on while other students are busy with other things, and to keep them from getting distracted, the gymnasium is designed to censor noise,” Ms. Blake explained. “Only Aria would have heard the gunshots since she was in the gym. The rest of us were completely in the dark until the police showed up and looked around.”

“I don’t know if that’s going to be helpful to us now, but I think it’s certainly worth noting. I get the feeling knowing the gym censors noise will be something useful to keep in mind,” Mr. Morix told me.

“I must agree. I’ll write a few notes about that before we have her move on,” I nodded, picking up a pencil and fiercely scribbling about the gymnasium’s ability to quiet sound. When I was finished, I looked back up at Ms. Blake. “Please continue, Ms. Blake.”

_ -“There was green paint dripping from her hand, which I mistook for blood.” _

_ -“I made the mistake because I could smell the blood coming from the gym.” _

_ -“ _ _ The paint and blood from the gym both smelled strongly, so I picked up on it even outside, though I really noticed the blood since it was out of place.” _

_ -“I took the picture about at this time. She didn’t see me take it since she was too panicked.” _

_ -“ _ _ Shortly afterwards, she took off. We didn’t run into each other again after that.” _

“Hold it!”

“In which direction did she take off?” I questioned. 

“I think it would be best now if we presented a larger map of the school,” Prosecutor Lin cut in. “We managed to get a diagram of the whole first floor of the main school building. There are other areas not shown here, but this is the most important area to the crime.”

She grabbed another paper and walked over to us, setting the page down on the bench I was sharing with Mr. Morix. Just as she had before, Prosecutor Lin met my eyes, as if she expected me to understand something I wasn’t yet comprehending. It made me frown, but there wasn’t much I could do about it unless she decided she wanted to talk.

“This is the first floor of the main school building. There aren’t any classrooms here, but the gymnasium and auditorium, which is where the main graduation was taking place, are found in this region,” Prosecutor Lin explained. “There are also a few bathrooms, the main office area, the nurse’s office, and the counseling hallway. Aside from those rooms though, this area is mainly empty.”

“The gym is in the far corner,” I murmured. “Plus, it only has one entrance. Why would the defendant have gone in there to begin with if it was out of the way anyways?”

“That’s where the supplies were being kept. We didn’t want the auditorium to get messy with the paint, so we decided to keep the supplies for the ceremony in the gym. Plus, if we got paint on the floor, it wouldn’t be as big a deal. It’s easier to clean the paint up from the waxed floors of the gym than it is from the carpet of the auditorium,” Ms. Blake explained. 

“I see... And what about the commentary room?” Mr. Morix questioned.

“Ms.  Rensicks  was keeping a few important things up there. If there was anything that was one-of-a-kind, it was in the commentary room under lock and key. We couldn’t have a few specific objects going missing, such as the diplomas, so we kept them up there. While the auditorium was still being set up, we figured it would be safest if they were away from the chaos,” Ms. Blake continued.

“That makes sense,” I nodded. “Now, back to my original question. Where did the defendant run off to following your encounter?”

“Well, she headed down the hallway towards the nearest set of bathrooms. I’d assume that was because she wanted to clean the green paint off her hand. It can stain your skin easily if you don’t get it off quickly,” Ms. Blake told us. “We had to get paint that would dry quickly for the sake of our decorations. Since graduation was set to take place that afternoon, we couldn’t wait around for hours for the decorations to dry. We needed paint that would dry as quickly as possible, which meant the paint would stain badly if it got onto human skin.”

“She went to rub off the paint then... That makes sense,” I muttered. 

“We still can’t call the paint a reliable excuse at this point,” Prosecutor Burke cut in with a frown. “Until we get the tests back from the forensics team, we can’t trust her words. It could easily be a lie. The witness could have easily smelled the paint from where it was being kept in the gym. She already smelled the blood coming from the gym, so it isn’t out of the question. We won’t be able to officially believe it until we get decisive proof.”

“I’m afraid she has a point here. In this legal system, we’re never able to trust the word of the person on charge for a given charge,” Mr.  Morix  frowned to me. “There isn’t much of anything we can do until Detective Erikson gets back. I have faith in Ms. Claris, and Ms. Blake seems to agree with her story, but the prosecution won’t be accepting it until we get proof.”

“Are you sure you can’t charm them into going along with it?” I joked with a light but forced smile.

“I’m afraid not. If there’s a hole in a case, Polly will poke a hole in it. While Sora is on the relaxed side, she still isn’t the type to back down. I suppose it’s in my nature to gravitate towards girls who are fiercely determined to prove their points when they believe they’re in the right. I don’t think it’s a bad thing though, even if it is inconvenient for us right now,” Mr. Morix replied, a good-natured smile on his face as well.

“I wonder where that detective is,” Judge  Diaphan  murmured. “Are you finished cross-examining the testimony of the witness, defense?”

I nodded. “I believe so, Your Honor,” I answered. I didn’t know if there was even a hole in her testimony. It seemed fine to me. Mr.  Morix  seemed to agree at first, as none of the new evidence we managed to get by pressing her helped us at all. We were able to let her go now, it seemed, as nothing in her testimony was sticking out as a hole.

Unless we wanted to drag this mysterious other witness, Denton Barr, up to the stand, we couldn’t do much of anything now. We had solid evidence that Ms. Claris wasn’t the culprit between Ms. Blake’s testimony placing her in the lower area of the gym. She couldn’t have shot the victim from below due to the direction of the shattered glass and the writing at the crime scene. We had managed to poke a hole in the prosecution’s case, putting her at a completely different location than originally thought, but we had a long way to go. Unless we could find the culprit, we weren’t in the clear yet. Proving one’s innocence was never enough to close a case for good. 

At least we had made a decent step in going towards the truth. It was good enough for me so far. I didn’t know what we were going to do next, but we had still made progress. Mr.  Morix  would know what steps to take next. He was good at his job that way, and it was one of the reasons I looked up to him so.

I was torn from my thoughts by the sound of a door opening. The previously quiet courtroom was disrupted by the noise. I turned to look at the entrance of the courtroom, wondering who could possibly be here. They were certainly late and causing a disruption on top of that. I was sure Judge  Diaphan  would have a few choice words for them since she didn’t have time for any nonsense. 

However, as soon as I realized who it was, my reservations slipped away and gave way to a smile. He was just on time, right when we thought we were done for the time being. It seemed the trial wouldn’t be ending for a while yet. 

Detective Erikson approached the witness stand, an envelope in hand. He glanced around and held the envelope up for everyone to see. “I have the test results,” he announced. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm scrambling to post this all in four minutes. Oof.
> 
> -Digital


	3. Return to the Turnabout, Part 3

**January 26**  

 **Courtroom No. 1**  

 **11:15 AM**  

 **Deirdre Brigit**  

Detective Erikson flicked open the folder before him and read over it for a moment before looking up at the courtroom. “There was paint found on the floor of the gymnasium, just as the defendant described. A few flecks were left behind on the ground, and they were confirmed to be green as well. It appears she was telling the truth on the matter,” he announced. “There was one other thing we noticed in the gymnasium though during our investigation.” 

“What is it?” Prosecutor Burke frowned. I could sense her ongoing hostility, but it seemed to have lessened significantly compared to how it had been before. She met eyes with Mr. Morix and shared a telling glance with him. 

“We found a dent in the wall on one side of the gymnasium, the side opposite the glass commentary box,” Detective Erikson replied. “We can’t say for sure, but we believe that this hole, which had previously been hidden by the basketball goal, is where the first bullet from the scene of the crime wound up.” 

“The first bullet?” I echoed. Since we had been assigned to this case so late in the investigative process, Mr. Morix and I weren’t given time to look at the crime scene in detail. It was in convenient, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. We would just have to take what the other people involved said and use it to our advantage. 

“There were two shots fired by the murder weapon. The first one missed the victim and hit the glass window of the commentary room. The bullet flew through the gymnasium and hit the opposite wall,” Detective Erikson explained. “You see, before today, the basketball goal on the opposite edge of the gymnasium had been moved to cover up the bullet hole. We hadn’t noticed it up until this investigation because of that when somebody suggested we move it.” 

“If the bullet hit the wall, that means the basketball wasn’t covering the bullet at the crime of the crime,” I murmured. “Can the goal be moved by easy means?” 

“There’s a lever that you can pull on the bottom floor of the gym. If you push on it with enough force, the basketball goal will be raised and will be tucked against the ceiling. If you pull back, the goal returns to its regular location,” Detective Erikson explained. “We don’t know when the basketball goal was moved, I’m afraid. There’s nothing that could show when the goal was moved in the physical evidence. The only person in the gymnasium at the time was the defendant.” 

I felt a smirk play on my lips. “Let’s call the defendant to the witness stand to testify then,” I told the court, prompting chatter to burst out in the gallery. 

Judge Diaphan had to slam her gavel against the bench multiple times to get the court to relax. “Order!” she roared, seeming more like a lion than a human for a brief moment. “Why would you call the defendant to the stand? Her innocence has not been firmly proven yet!” 

“However, we showed that at the time of the crime, the defendant was in the lower area of the gymnasium. Since we have firm evidence that the murder took place while both the culprit and victim were in the commentary room, we can make the assumption that the defendant did not kill the victim. It’s something to consider at the very least, and it isn’t like we have much of an idea for where to go next,” I pointed out. “She was in the gymnasium. She can tell us if the basketball goal was moved while she was in the gym.” 

“I must agree with the defense on this one. If we can get the defendant to tell us about the basketball goal, then we can figure out when it was moved,” Detective Erikson pointed out. “The basketball goal was tucked near the ceiling at the time of the murder, but in order for it to be covered, somebody would have had to return to the gymnasium and flip the switch in the other direction.” 

“Were any fingerprints found on the lever?” Prosecutor Lin asked.  

“A set of unidentified prints were found on the switch,” Detective Erikson replied. “We don’t know who the prints belong to, I’m afraid.” 

“However, we do know they don’t belong to the defendant,” I pointed out. “If she had thrown the switch, the green paint would have gotten all over the handle, meaning we wouldn’t have been able to identify any prints. Plus, if you look in the picture taken by Ms. Blake, you can see both of her hands. While one hand is covered in paint, you can see a glove on the other hand. Both of these tell us clearly she couldn’t have thrown the switch at the time of the murder. Ms. Blake saw her running in the direction opposite the gym after the fact.” 

“Plus, we have her prints in the system already. If the prints matched, we would already know it,” Detective Erikson pointed out. “We have the fingerprints of the victim, Ms. Blake, and the defendant in the system. None of the match with the fingerprints found on the switch. We can say that the hands are on the large side, being larger than all three handprints of the people I already mentioned.” 

“We should call the defendant to the stand and have her testify about the switch. Since she was in the gymnasium at the time of the crime, she probably knows better than anyone else here when the switch could have been pulled,” Prosecutor Lin cut in.  

“I must agree. I’ll leave a few copies of the forensic report here for all of you to look over when you need them,” Detective Erikson declared. He walked to the defense bench and then to the prosecution variant, dropping a folder on each one as he went by. Afterwards, he returned to his seat with Ms. Blake on the witness bench. 

Ms. Claris appeared at the witness stand a few seconds later. She looked robotic as always, staring off into space. Her eyes were somewhat glassy, but I saw her look to both the prosecution and Mr. Morix and me. Something about her struck me as familiar, though I couldn’t exactly put a finger on it. I would probably figure it out eventually, but for the time being, I was as clueless as could be. 

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Judge Diaphan instructed sternly. 

“Aria Claris. Unemployed,” Ms. Claris answered, her voice monotone.  

“We would like to learn more about the switch from the time of the crime that retracts or extends the basketball goal,” Prosecutor Burke explained. 

“Alright,” Ms. Claris said. 

 **~ Witness Testimony ~**  

 **~ Basketball Goal Lever ~**  

 _-“The lever is positioned next to the door of the gymnasium.”_  

 _-“I was facing it the whole time I was in the gym.”_  

 _-“I grabbed the paint and started for the door, which is when the gunshot rang out.”_  

 _-“I dropped the paint can and collapsed to the ground.”_  

 _-“I was like that for a while.”_  

 _-“Nobody came in at all while I was on the ground.”_  

“You were alone the whole time then,” Mr. Morix murmured.  

“I was. If anybody had come in, I would have seen them, and I didn’t see anybody,” Ms. Claris told him firmly. “I was alone in the gymnasium for about fifteen minutes.” 

“It was only after those fifteen minutes that you ran into the witness from earlier?” Prosecutor Burke asked. 

“Correct. Until that point, I was alone. I cleaned up the paint after about twelve minutes using paper towels in the gym. I threw them away and started for the bathroom to wash the paint out of my glove and off my hands. That was when I ran into Clarith,” Ms. Claris explained. 

“This looks like it could be the big break we’ve been waiting for. Detective Erikson already made it clear as day that Ms. Claris couldn’t have thrown the switch. We’re assuming the culprit changed the basketball goal’s position to hide the bullet since nobody else would have a reason to move it, and if she didn’t move the switch, she couldn’t have done it,” I smiled, turning to Mr. Morix. 

“There is one thing that bothers me about all this though... She was alone for fifteen minutes in the gymnasium. I think we can trust her word on that, but I want to know what she was doing in those fifteen minutes. She was cleaning up the paint for the last three or so according to her testimony, but those first twelve minutes are still unaccounted for. I wonder if that’s going to be important,” Mr. Morix said with a frown. “I don’t see any blatant flaws in her testimony, so we should press her and get new evidence out of it. There’s no reason our case can’t benefit.” 

“I agree on that last point. Let’s see if we can figure out what was happening in those twelve minutes. I’m sure it’ll be important,” I agreed with a curt nod. “Ms. Claris, if you would please...” 

 **~** **Cross-Examination** **~**  

 **~ Basketball Goal Lever ~**  

 _-“The lever is positioned next to the door of the gymnasium.”_  

 _-“I was facing it the whole time I was in the gym.”_  

 _-“I grabbed the paint and started for the door, which is when the gunshot rang out.”_  

 _-“I dropped the paint can and collapsed to the ground.”_  

 _-“I was like that for a while.”_  

“Hold it!” 

“You were alone in the gymnasium, collapsed on the ground?” I asked with a frown.  

“I was,” Ms. Claris answered firmly.  

“What caused you to collapse?” Mr. Morix questioned. “It seems like it happened rather suddenly... Did something happen?” 

“I panicked,” Ms. Claris replied with a small shrug.  

“Was it the gunshot that caused you to lose focus?” I asked, tapping my finger against the bench mindlessly. 

Ms. Claris nodded hesitantly. “Yes, it was. The gunshot caused me to have a nearly immediate panic attack. I couldn’t keep my concentration after that. I was too busy trying to calm myself following the panic attack to bother leaving the gym any sooner. The second gunshot only worsened my condition. I wasn’t able to leave the gymnasium until about fifteen minutes after the gunshot rang out and the paint was spilled,” she explained.  

“And you were facing the door this entire time? Nobody could have possibly entered or exited the gymnasium?” I questioned with a small frown. 

“Nobody entered or left. I was watching the door the entire time in my panic. Even when I was cleaning the paint up, nobody could have come in. I would have noticed them,” Ms. Claris told us firmly. “If anybody had come in to mess around with the switch, they would have to have done it after I left the gymnasium. I didn’t go back until after the police had arrived, and I was under constant surveillance then. Whoever did it must have done it before the police came onto the scene. They would have been spotted otherwise.” 

“She’s sharp as a tack,” I commented to Mr. Morix. “I suppose she knows what she’s talking about.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Mr. Morix shrugged. “And it shouldn’t surprise you either.” 

“What?” I couldn’t help but ask. And here I had thought Mr. Morix was finished speaking in riddles. He had done it for quite some time leading up to the Interpol case the year before, but he had cut back on it in the four months since the case. This murder seemed to be pushing his progress back, which I knew was far from a good thing. 

“Do you have any ideas who could have flipped the switch in the gymnasium, defense?” Judge Diaphan cut in, preventing me from asking any further questions. 

I turned to Mr. Morix with a frown. I didn’t have any ideas as to where we should go from here. Who could have pulled the basketball goal down to hide the gunshot? 

“The question we should be asking here isn’t who did it. Turn your thinking around. Instead, think of who had the opportunity to switch the goal from being propped up to its regular position. If we think about it that way, we should be able to find the answer,” Mr. Morix told me. “Think through the testimony we’ve gotten up to this point. There’s a clue hiding in there. I can say that for sure.” 

“Well... Ms. Blake stated that she ran into Ms. Claris and saw her sprinting in the opposite direction of the gymnasium after they bumped into one another. Shortly afterwards, Ms. Blake called the police after smelling blood. She didn’t enter the gymnasium at all out of fear. I’m sure the operator who picked up her call would be able to confirm her alibi for flipping the switch,” I began to say. “Ms. Claris ran in the opposite direction and didn’t enter the gymnasium again, which meant it would have had to be a third person not seen in this court yet today.” 

“I have a few more questions to ask Ms. Blake, if it’s alright with the prosecution. May we call her to the witness stand once again?” Mr. Morix asked, looking to our rivals across the courtroom. 

Prosecutor Lin shared a glance with Prosecutor Burke and shrugged. “Go ahead,” she replied.  

“Ms. Blake, if you would please...” Ms. Burke prompted. 

Ms. Blake switched placed with Ms. Claris, the latter returning to her place in the defendant’s seat. Ms. Blake began to fiddle around with her sunglasses again.  

“The court would like to hear of your actions after you saw the defendant running in the direction away from the crime scene,” Judge Diaphan declared. “I believe that’s the path the defendant will be taking us down.” 

“It is, as a matter of fact,” Mr. Morix nodded. “If I recall correctly, at the start of the trial, we were told that Ms. Blake ran into a second witness, one Denton Barr. I want to know more about the interaction between the witnesses and what Ms. Blake did after seeing Ms. Claris.” 

“If you want to call him as a witness later on, I must warn you... He’s not here right now. Mr. Barr had some other business to attend to and said he would be late in arriving to the trial. We may need a recess to prepare him,” Prosecutor Lin warned.  

“That’s alright. I don’t think it will be an issue for quite some time,” I assured her. “For now, we should focus on the testimony of Ms. Blake. I believe her words will direct us on the path to the truth.” 

“If the culprit flipped the switch, all we need to do is propose someone who could have entered the gym and changed the position of the basketball goal. Nobody else would have had a motivation to do such. With the logic we’ve followed up to this point, proving someone flipped the switch is the same as proving their guilt in the murder. The culprit’s case will crumble from there,” Mr. Morix told me. “Be on the lookout during this testimony. This is the turning point in the trial.” 

I nodded. “I’ll be as careful as I can,” I answered, looking up to Ms. Blake with determination in my eyes. 

“Please begin your testimony now,” Judge Diaphan instructed, prompting Ms. Blake to nod. 

 **~ Witness Testimony ~**  

 **~ After Seeing Aria ~**  

 _-“After seeing Aria, I stayed around the gymnasium, but I didn’t go inside.”_  

 _-“I had a bad feeling, and I didn’t want to head inside. I felt like something was wrong.”_  

 _-“I began to panic after realizing what I was smelling was blood, so I called the police.”_  

 _-“I was on the phone with the operator until the police arrived.”_  

 _-“_ _That was when I ran into Mr. Barr.”_  

 _-“He entered the gymnasium while I was on the phone.”_  

 _-“I heard a weird sound coming from the gymnasium while he was in there.”_  

 _-“He came out a few moments later, looking as if nothing was wrong.”_  

 _-“There was a bottle in his hand, but it didn’t really look like anything we were using for decorations.”_  

“You saw the other witness enter the gymnasium?!” I gasped in shock. This was just what we needed! If we could prove that he was the one who had thrown the switch and was therefore the culprit! 

“Does the testimony match up with what you heard while questioning the witness in the investigation?” Judge Diaphan asked of Prosecutor Burke. 

“It does, yes,” Prosecutor Burke replied. “She mentioned running into Mr. Barr while on the phone with the police.” 

“You never went into the gymnasium at the time of the crime?” Mr. Morix asked. 

“No, I didn’t... I was too nervous. Like I said earlier, I had a bad feeling about what was going on. I couldn’t bring myself to go inside. Mr. Barr was the only one who went inside. I was on the phone with the operator, telling her all about what was happening at the time. You can ask her if you want to be sure of what I was doing,” Ms. Blake declared, playing with the tips of her hair.  

“We spoke with the operator in question yesterday, as a matter of fact,” Prosecutor Lin remarked. “Just like the witness says, she agreed with what Ms. Blake said about the crime. Every piece of her testimony has backup to it.” 

“In other words, we can’t really question the testimony, can we?” I murmured to Mr. Morix. 

“I don’t think she had any reason to lie about what happened anyways. There’s something else I want to know about the testimony, actually,” Mr. Morix told me. “I’m curious about what’s in that bottle. Even if she didn’t see much of it, the bottle could still be important.” 

“I’ll press her on it then,” I nodded.  

“Please begin your cross-examination now, defense,” Judge Diaphan cut in. 

“I’ll get right to it,” I replied.  

 **~** **Cross-Examination** **~**  

 **~ After Seeing Aria ~**  

 _-“After seeing Aria, I stayed around the gymnasium, but I didn’t go inside.”_  

 _-“I had a bad feeling, and I didn’t want to head inside. I felt like something was wrong.”_  

 _-“I began to panic after realizing what I was smelling was blood, so I called the police.”_  

 _-“I was on the phone with the operator until the police arrived.”_  

 _-“_ _That was when I ran into Mr. Barr.”_  

 _-“He entered the gymnasium while I was on the phone.”_  

 _-“I heard a weird sound coming from the gymnasium while he was in there.”_  

 _-“He came out a few moments later, looking as if nothing was wrong.”_  

 _-“There was a bottle in his hand, but it didn’t really look like anything we were using for decorations.”_  

“Hold it!” 

“What did the bottle in question look like? Were there any distinctive features about it?” I asked with a frown. 

“I couldn’t see anything on the bottle like a label, but I could certainly smell something,” Ms. Blake responded. “It smelled like cleaning fluid.” 

“Do you think it’s possible the bottle was being used to clean up anything the day of the graduation ceremony?” I questioned. 

“No, that isn’t possible. I don’t think any cleaning products in bottles that small were being used for the graduation. I even went shopping with Ms. Rensicks about a week ago to buy all the decorations and other supplies we were going to need. There weren’t any cleaning products that small,” Ms. Blake declared. “In fact, there was nothing in a container that small.” 

“Can you describe anything else about the appearance of the bottle?” Mr. Morix pressed next. 

“It was small and clear. The fluid inside was clear too. The bottle couldn’t have been much larger than his hand, which was on the larger side. The lid looked somewhat crooked, but that wasn’t all... There was some blood on it!” Ms. Blake explained. “I was too frazzled to bother asking him about it at the time, but I’m pretty sure there was blood on the lid of the bottle.” 

“Blood?!” I gasped, doing my best (and ultimately failing) to keep my shock in check. “There was only one source of blood in the school that day, and it was the dead body. To me, that sounds like proof to confirm that Denton Barr was not only in the area of the gymnasium, but at the crime scene!” 

The gallery burst into conversation not long after. It took Judge Diaphan slamming her gavel against the bench multiple times to get them to calm down. “Order!” she shouted angrily.  

“If you ask me, this is reasoning that we should call Mr. Barr,” I announced. “If he was truly at the crime scene, we need to hear his testimony. Plus, he was the only one to enter the gymnasium until the police arrived. He must have thrown the switch to change the position of the basketball goal. I believe that’s sufficient reasoning to call him in here and have him testify regarding what he saw at the time of the crime.” 

“As I said earlier, if you want to call him, we’re going to need some time to prepare him. He should be at the courthouse by the time the recess is over. Between preparing his testimony and catching him up on what’s been happening thus far, we’re going to need about twenty minutes. Is that alright with you, Your Honor?” Prosecutor Lin asked, looking expectantly up to the judge.  

Judge Diaphan nodded. “Of course. To give you time to prepare the witness, court will be taking a thirty-minute recess to ensure the witness arrives on time. When the recess ends, we expect all to be back in the courtroom to hear the testimony of Denton Barr. Does the defense have any objections to that?” she asked. 

Mr. Morix and I looked to each other before shaking our heads. “The defense has no objections,” I told her confidently. 

“In that case, court is adjourned!” Judge Diaphan exclaimed, slamming her gavel down authoritatively.  

 **January 26**  

 **Defendant Lobby No. 1**  

 **12:00 PM**  

 **Deirdre Brigit**  

I practically collapsed of relief when we arrived out in the defendant lobby. “I’m glad we’ve been able to hold up this far,” I admitted. “I didn’t expect things to go down this path, but the forensics report really changed everything.” 

“I wonder what happened to the bullet after the fact though... Think about it. The bullet hole was found to be hiding behind the basketball goal, but there wasn’t any bullet with it. If that’s the case, I bet the culprit has it. We can use that to catch them in their tracks and crumble any defense they might put up nearly instantly,” Mr. Morix told me. 

“Can I tell you something?” 

Mr. Morix and I both turned to see who it was that had approached us. I realized Ms. Claris had appeared at our sides, still looking robotic. I knew that we hadn’t quite evolved as a species yet to create advanced robots like people, but it was still a distinct possibility in the back of my head that Ms. Claris was secretly a robot.  

“What is it?” Mr. Morix asked. 

“I want you to know about the evidence I gave Ms. Rensicks prior to the crime. The evidence the prosecution is basing their motive around,” Ms. Claris told us. “I didn’t think it would wind up being important, but I was wrong. The culprit probably has it now... Well, actually, I know he does.” 

“The culprit has your evidence?” I questioned in surprise. 

Ms. Claris nodded. “He does. Do you remember the small bottle Ms. Blake mentioned in her testimony? The one that Mr. Barr was holding? That’s my evidence,” she explained. “It’s a bottle of sword-cleaning fluid.” 

“Sword-cleaning fluid?” I echoed. “What were you doing with something like that?” 

“It’s something I’ve had for a month or so. I wanted her help in analyzing it. I figured there would be fingerprints on its surface that would lead me to something I’ve been trying to find for quite some time. It’s all conjecture, yes, but I have a feeling about it. The police never found my evidence on the dead body. I see now that it’s because the culprit took it off the body. They thought the same applied to me, but I never got it back. They would have found it when they arrested me,” Ms. Claris explained. She was more relaxed now, but the glare in her eyes was still as severe as ever. “I don’t want you to tell anyone about this conversation though.” 

“What? Why not?” I frowned.  

“You can use this against Mr. Barr. Don’t tell him anything about what we’ve been talking about. Instead, surprise him. Show that you have an ace up your sleeve. If he gets tripped up by this, it’ll be proof. Between the switch, the bullet, and the evidence of mine, you’ll be able to catch him. He won’t be able to worm his way out of this one,” Ms. Claris told us. A smirk played on her lips. “It’s simple. If he can’t get his way out of it, then he’ll be forced to confess. I’m sure you know all about that though. He can’t pass this much off as coincidence.” 

“You seem to know what you’re talking about,” I remarked. “Do you have experience with court or something? I doubt a random student helping a college with its graduation could possibly be able to plan this far in advance.” 

“And you’d be right,” Ms. Claris answered with a small smile. “I trust you to figure things out eventually, even if you’re clueless now.” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked, starting to get frustrated. I hid it well, so Ms. Claris and Mr. Morix didn’t seem to catch on, but I couldn’t help it. It was like they both knew what they were talking about, but I was left out of the loop. I didn’t understand why. I was the leading attorney on this case. If they wanted help with something in the courtroom, I would have to know about it. It was a simple principle, and yet, they didn’t seem to understand it. 

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Ms. Claris repeated. “I should get going. I’ll leave you to your strategizing.” 

Ms. Claris walked away not long after. I watched her take her place over on the couch, where she stared silently at her feet. I wanted nothing more than to talk to her more about what she had figured out about the case. She seemed to be two steps ahead of us, even if it was hidden behind a shadowy and robotic façade. It was concerning, to say the least. 

“Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” I asked. 

“You’ll figure it out soon enough. You heard her,” Mr. Morix shrugged. “I’ll give you a hint though. It has something to do with how willing Polly and Sora are to help us out on this case. In case you haven’t noticed, Polly is incredibly competitive. And yet, she’s been holding back this entire case. Why is that? The answer is simple. I know you’ll find it soon enough. Until then, we should concentrate on the case at hand. We can’t afford to get distracted now. We have too much on the line right now.” 

“And what about Prosecutor Lin?” I questioned next.  

“Sora’s nowhere near as tough when it comes to what she does. She’s always been more relaxed that way. She has a sense of pride, but it doesn’t lie in her successes in the courtroom. She cares only about finding the truth, and if she can succeed there, she doesn’t care the outcome for herself,” Mr. Morix replied. “Though I’d rather not go against her when she knows factually a defendant is guilty. A whole other beast is released during those times, and it isn’t one I like encountering, to say the least.” 

“So, during this case, she believes that Ms. Claris didn’t do it,” I murmured. I had a feeling that was going to be important to figuring out whatever it was Mr. Morix and Ms. Claris were hiding from me. 

“Well, she doesn’t really believe it. She knows it positively. So does Polly, for that matter. They know where they stand here. They know Ms. Claris didn’t do it, and they’re here for a different reason than to prove that she committed the crime. That being said, you need to turn your thinking around. In order to realize why they’re here, don’t think about why they’d take on the case. Focus instead on what reasoning they would have to hold back and let us win,” Mr. Morix told me. “It’s all a matter of perspective.” 

A bailiff cried out that it was time for us to return to the courtroom not long after. Mr. Morix walked in first, and I followed him. He was the best of the best when it came to turning your thinking around. It came from his cool-headed and logical demeanor. He knew what he was doing too, but he wouldn’t ever take over. He would let you figure it out for yourself what was going on. It was simply in his nature. 

As much as I liked figuring things out for myself, it did get a bit irritating when he spoke in riddles this way. Sometimes, all you wanted was to hear the truth behind a given case, but Mr. Morix didn’t see that as an option.  

There wasn’t much of anything I could do about it though. We had a murder to solve. I could think this through after the case had ended. Until then, I had a job to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this book, but posting each chapter on three different sites can be such a pain in the ass.
> 
> -Digital


	4. Return to the Turnabout, Part 4

** January 26 **

** Courtroom No. 1 **

** 12:30 PM **

** Deirdre Brigit **

When we got back into the courtroom, the people in the gallery were chatting as obnoxiously as they always had. I looked over to Mr. Morix, a frown on my face. I still didn’t understand any of what he had been hinting at out in the lobby. His words had been cryptic and vague. I had grown used to him being open with me after the case with Interpol the year before, but now, he was going right back to where we had started. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Judge  Diaphan  smacked her gavel down on the bench before her. “Court is back in session for the trial of Aria Claris,” she announced. “Is the defense ready?”

I nodded. “The defense is ready,” I replied.

“The prosecution is also ready,” Prosecutor Lin chimed in, a small smile on her face. She had a triumphant look to her eyes, which already had me nervous. If the witness had some evidence that worked in the favor of the prosecution, it was going to be extra difficult to wrap things up. I would have to find a way to figure this out no matter what, and I knew I would get there eventually, but I didn’t want to take any longer than we already had.

“Did the prosecution speak with the witness?” Judge  Diaphan  questioned, looking over to Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke. “I hope he arrived in time to testify...”

“We did talk to him, as a matter of fact. He’s here and ready to talk to us about what he saw the day of the murder,” Prosecutor Burke nodded. “If there are no objections, the prosecution would like to call him to the witness stand to testify about his involvement at the scene of the murder.”

“The defense has no objections,” I said quickly, eager to hear what he had to say. If he attempted to defend himself, then we would have proof to lash back at him with. All we had to do was test his fingerprints and see if they matched those found on the switch of the basketball goal. Plus, there was Ms. Claris’ bottle to consider. If it was evidence only known by her and the killer, then we could catch him if he slipped up about it. It would only take one misstep for him to fall into our trap.

“Go on, Prosecutor Burke,” Judge Diaphan instructed.

“The prosecution calls Denton Barr to the witness stand,” Prosecutor Burke announced. 

A man appeared at the stand a few seconds later. He had dark hair that swept low over his face. His hands were shoved in his pockets. I could see him messing with some cylindrical object in one pocket, but I couldn’t tell what any of the details were. He had a baggy jacket on that hid most of his figure. He had sweatpants on as well. They were large and sagged, hiding even more of his body. His tennis shoes were ragged and torn up. Judging by the way he was  dressed,  he hadn’t been expecting to come and testify in a courtroom. That didn’t surprise me with what we had heard from the prosecution up until this point.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness,” Judge  Diaphan  demanded, her gaze harsh as she regarded him. I could tell she was suspicious of him, but I couldn’t tell what she thought he did. If she thought he had pulled the switch, then she was certainly hiding her enmity for a potential murderer rather well. Granted, we hadn’t proved yet that he was guilty, but I still know I would have been a bit more fired up than she was.

“Denton Barr,” the man responded. He looked up at me and Mr. Morix, causing me to realize his eyes were a dark brown. He glared at us, looking ready to lunge for our throats. “I’m currently unemployed, though I’m going to interviews where possible.”

“Mr. Barr, we have reason to believe that you changed the position of the basketball goal at the time of the crime. The person who flipped the switch on the basketball is under suspicion of committing a crime,” Judge  Diaphan  remarked, still frowning darkly. Perhaps she wasn’t hiding her anger as well as I had thought. “We require your testimony to ensure that you did or did not change the position of the goal. Be honest. The court will discover the truth if you are lying.”

“You don’t need to be so harsh with me. I know how court works,” Mr. Barr grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He already wasn’t turning out to be very likeable. And here I thought it couldn’t get more obvious that he had something to do with the crime...

“If you really know so much about court, then go on and tell us about what you saw the day of the crime. How about that?” Prosecutor Lin asked, a friendly smile on her face. I had no idea how she could possibly be so excited in this situation. We had a potential murderer on our hands, and yet she could still manage to keep smiling.

“Maybe I will,” Mr. Barr scoffed. “You don’t need to get snarky with me.”

“Before we start the testimony, I want to know what you were doing at the crime scene to begin with,” Mr. Morix frowned. “You said you were unemployed, so why were you there?”

“The teacher leading the graduation ceremony asked me to help out with the setup. We’re old friends, you see,” Mr. Barr explained. “I was helping to put the decorations in the right place and all that.”

“I see... Alright. I understand. Please, go on and testify about what you did in the gymnasium shortly after the murder,” Mr.  Morix  instructed. “Any information you can give us about the basketball goal would be much appreciated.”

“Alright, alright, I’m on it,” Mr. Barr nodded. 

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ My Time in the Gymnasium ~ **

_ \--“I was called to the school to help with setting up the graduation, as I already mentioned.” _

_ -“I headed to the gym to grab a few more supplies around the time of the murder.” _

_ -“I pulled the switch when I noticed the basketball goal was tucked up.” _

_ -“I didn’t think it was supposed to be flat against the ceiling, so I returned it to its normal position.” _

_ -“I swear, I wouldn’t have done that if I knew it would make me into a murder suspect.” _

_ -“There’s nothing suspicious going on here. I just though the switch needed to be pulled.” _

_ -“I don’t think you can hold this against me when it was an honest mistake.” _

“You pulled the switch because you thought the basketball goal was in the wrong position,” I frowned. I didn’t really buy what he was trying to sell us. I had a feeling something darker was going on behind the scenes. I didn’t exactly have any proof, but judging by the way Mr. Morix was looking, he felt the same way.

“Can you blame me for thinking that way? I don’t know much about the school. I thought the goal was supposed to be down when it wasn’t being used,” Mr. Barr shrugged neutrally. “It was an honest mistake. I don’t think you can hold it against me.”

“Our previous witness, Ms. Blake, saw him walking into the gymnasium at the time of the murder. Well technically, it was fifteen minutes after the fact since the defendant was already gone, off to wash the paint off,” Prosecutor Lin announced. “We’ve found the one who pulled the switch at the time of the murder. It seems he did it because he didn’t realize it was supposed to be set up differently.”

“The defense still wishes to perform its cross-examination,” Mr.  Morix  declared with a frown. “I have a few questions for the witness.”

“As do I,” I agreed with a firm nod.

“If we know for sure that he flipped the switch, all we need to do is attempt to prove intent. I doubt this could have been that innocent of a mistake. I think something darker is working behind the scenes here,” Mr. Morix whispered to me.

“Plus, it seems to go against what we heard from Ms. Blake. I think you’re right about something else going on,” I nodded.

“Defense, please begin your cross-examination,” Judge  Diaphan  announced.

“I’ll get right to it, Your Honor,” I nodded. 

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination  ** ** ~ **

** ~ My Time in the Gymnasium ~ **

_ \--“I was called to the school to help with setting up the graduation, as I already mentioned.” _

_ -“I headed to the gym to grab a few more supplies around the time of the murder.” _

_ -“I pulled the switch when I noticed the basketball goal was tucked up.” _

_ -“I didn’t think it was supposed to be flat against the ceiling, so I returned it to its normal position.” _

_ -“I swear, I wouldn’t have done that if I knew it would make me into a murder suspect.” _

_ -“There’s nothing suspicious going on here. I just though the switch needed to be pulled.” _

_ -“I don’t think you can hold this against me when it was an honest mistake.” _

“Objection!”

“I don’t think that this mistake was as innocent as you’re claiming it to be,” I frowned. “If you went into the gymnasium at the time of the crime, you would have noticed something incredibly crucial... You would have smelled the blood from the commentary room.”

“The blood from the commentary room?” Mr. Barr echoed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Our previous witness, Ms.  Clarith  Blake, could smell blood coming from the commentary room, the scene of the crime, even from outside the gymnasium. It alerted her to the fact that something was wrong. She called the police since the smell was so strong,” I explained. “And yet, you entered the gymnasium and flipped the switch without inhaling something like that? It was powerful enough to prompt a call to emergency services. I doubt you could have missed something so obvious.”

Mr. Barr flinched at my voice. “Well... Um, you see... I can’t smell anything,” he explained hurriedly. “I’ve never been able to smell anything.”

“Objection!”

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t lie to us, witness,” Prosecutor Burke cut in. Her tone was condescending and low, making my heart pound a little faster in my chest. 

“Uh oh. He’s incurred the wrath of Polly. Good luck to him if he wants to get out of his one alive,” murmured Mr.  Morix  from beside me. I held back a snicker to focus on the action taking place. Ms. Burke didn’t seem  too  happy about him lying, and that was putting it lightly. 

“We happen to have important files on every person involved with this case, and we would have known it if you were unable to smell anything. I would rather you tell the truth than continue to spout nonsense as if there’s no tomorrow. If you lie to us, we will find out about it. In the end, it’s inevitable. Why don’t you make things easier on yourself, and on all of us, and tell the truth about that smell?” Prosecutor Burke asked. Her voice sent shivers sprinting up and down my spine rapidly. I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of her rage. I didn’t know how Mr. Barr was keeping his cool so well.

Speaking of Mr. Barr, he had his arms crossed. He tapped his foot and glanced around the room aimlessly and silently. He didn’t say anything for a solid thirty seconds, leaving everyone in the courtroom to stare at him expectantly.

“Mr. Barr!” Prosecutor Burke finally roared, slamming her hands against the bench before her. Prosecutor Lin’s cool exterior deteriorated for but a moment, showing her expression of shock at the sudden yell. “We won’t tolerate your procrastination much longer! Speak! Now!!”

“I did smell the blood,” he finally admitted. “I just didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“You didn’t think anything of it?” I asked in shock. “Why not? Anyone would be sent into a panic if they smelled blood, right? Why didn’t you panic?”

“I figured it wasn’t anything serious. Think about it. You can sometimes smell blood even if you’ve just gotten a cut on your arm. I thought I had opened a cut or something while I was setting up the decorations,” Mr. Barr shrugged. “I didn’t think it was something as dark as murder.”

“If you thought you had cut yourself accidentally, wouldn’t you have felt it?” Mr. Morix questioned.

“I did feel it,” Mr. Barr explained simply. He pulled up one sleeve and showed deep cuts on his lower arm. I found myself flinching looking at them. They were certainly new and had likely been made over the course of the past day or so.

“What happened to cause your cuts?” Prosecutor Lin asked. “I would like you to testify about that next, witness.”

Mr. Barr shrugged. “Alright, I guess. I suppose it won’t hurt.”

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Cuts on my Arm ~ **

_ -“The cuts formed yesterday while we were setting up.” _

_ -“I had been trying to put a backdrop up for taking pictures at the time.” _

_ -“The wooden backdrop fell on me and opened a few cuts on the way down.” _

_ -“It gave me a few splinters too, but I managed to get them out with some tweezers and elbow grease.” _

_ -“I think I might have bled onto the floor a little bit in the process.” _

_ -“See? Nothing suspicious about smelling blood and finding it normal as can be.” _

“I think his desperation is showing. He’s blatantly lying about this,” Mr. Morix hissed to me. “The cuts came from somewhere else.”

“I think I know what you’re talking about. There’s something wrong here,” I nodded.

“If there are no objections, it’s time for the cross-examination,” Judge  Diaphan  announced. “The defense certainly seems excited about talking to him.”

“We’ll get right onto it,” I told her. Mr. Barr’s testimony had a glaring contradiction in it, and I was already sure how to point it out. There was only one place he could have bled at the college, and it was going to be a nail in his coffin.

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination  ** ** ~ **

** ~ The Cuts on my Arm ~ **

_ -“The cuts formed yesterday while we were setting up.” _

_ -“I had been trying to put a backdrop up for taking pictures at the time.” _

_ -“The wooden backdrop fell on me and opened a few cuts on the way down.” _

_ -“It gave me a few splinters too, but I managed to get them out with some tweezers and elbow grease.” _

_ -“I think I might have bled onto the floor a little bit in the process.” _

_ -“See? Nothing suspicious about smelling blood and finding it normal as can be.” _

“Objection!”

“There is something very suspicious about you smelling blood, actually,” I frowned. “You said that you bled onto the floor because of your cuts, yes?”

“I did,” Mr. Barr nodded. “What about it?”

“You weren’t here earlier when we got this test result back, but it’s still important. There was no blood found in the school anywhere aside from the crime scene,” I told him. “You couldn’t have possibly been cut that badly by the wooden backdrop since no blood was found to match your large cuts!”

The gallery began chattering. I turned to Mr.  Morix  with a frown. “I don’t know where this is going to take us, but I’m determined to find out. I have a sneaking suspicion this blood is going to lead us to the real culprit, and I think Mr. Barr is going to be related to them.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me at this point if he was the culprit. After all, there’s only one place he could have possibly bled and not been noticed, and that certainly points to him having done it,” Mr. Morix nodded.

“Order!” Judge  Diaphan  shouted. “If the witness couldn’t have bled anywhere else, then where did his cut open?”

“It’s simple. His cut opened at the scene of the crime,” I explained. “That’s the only place any blood was found in the school on the day of the murder. His blood could have mixed with the victim’s which would make it out to be normal to any outsider who didn’t know any better.”

“I cleaned up the blood after cutting myself!” Mr. Barr cried. “That could explain your precious ‘contradiction’ easily!”

“Even if you had cleaned it up, Luminol testing would have revealed that blood had been there in the first place,” I pointed out. “You can’t hide the truth here. If you bled anywhere the day of the murder, it would have had to be at the crime scene.”

“If you look closer at the picture of the crime scene, you can see something in the pocket of the victim,” Mr.  Morix  told me. “Look at her pocket for a moment. You can see a thin outline of a rectangle. I would be willing to bet that outline is an indicator of a pocket knife.”

“Let’s think this through for a moment. If the culprit attacked Ms.  Rensicks  with a gun, and she had a knife on her for self-defense, she could have lashed out in return. If the cuts were blocked, they would have wound up on the same location on the arm where Mr. Barr’s cuts are. Afterwards, the culprit could have put the knife back into her pocket to make it seem like it had never been used. Unless all the blood was tested, then nobody would know for sure if it was all hers or had some blood from a second source,” I murmured. “It all comes together too well to be a coincidence. I’m positive this is the case. There’s no way this could be false, right?”

“It would just require grabbing the knife and checking to make sure it had traces of blood on it,” Mr.  Morix  nodded. “If the blood didn’t belong to the victim, that would make it all come together even more perfectly. I’m sure we could ask Detective Erikson to take care of it. He isn’t testifying now. I feel bad for dragging him to and from the crime scene so much, but the truth seems to require it... Unless we have another way of proving that he did it. I wonder if we should use the evidence that Ms. Claris mentioned to us.”

“I think we should have him testify about his excuse. If he slips up, then we can catch him in his own lies. Ms. Claris has a point about him not knowing about the bottle. I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed a cylinder in his pocket. If it’s the bottle Ms. Claris claimed was her evidence, we can prove that he was at the scene of the crime. Nobody could have taken the bottle except for the culprit,” I told him with a small smile. “I don’t know how we can possibly bait him into talking about it though...”

“Let’s ask him for details about the time when he flipped the switch. That was when Ms. Claris saw the bottle in his hand. Maybe we can bluff and make him slip up,” Mr.  Morix  suggested. “If we claim that the evidence was, for example, a cloth instead of a bottle, he’d go to correct us, which is when we’d attack.”

“In that case, let’s do it,” I nodded. “But how are we going to get the prosecution in on our bluff?”

“I can handle it,” Mr.  Morix  assured me. He looked up and at the prosecution. He met eyes with Prosecutor Lin and mouthed something I thought looked like ‘trust me’. She hesitated before nodding. Confusion was still written on her face, but she didn’t say anything, shooting a suspicious glance at Mr. Barr instead.

“The defense would like to have the witness testify about his flipping of the switch once again,” Mr. Morix announced next.

“You’re going from accusing me of murder to talking about a basketball goal?!” Mr. Barr shouted angrily. “What are you thinking?!”

“I’m thinking you’re lucky we aren’t pursuing this matter further at the moment,” I told him with a tight frown. “Now, if you would be so kind, please tell the court in more detail about what happened when you flipped the switch at the time of the murder.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing, defense,” Judge  Diaphan  murmured under her breath with a shake of her head. She seemed to be surprised by the sudden change of mood as well, but she didn’t ask about it either. Perhaps she had seen Mr.  Morix  conversing with Prosecutor Lin and was going to go along with it...

“Please begin your testimony now, witness,” I instructed of Mr. Barr. He sighed angrily in response before speaking.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ Flipping the Switch ~ **

_ -“I already told you, I flipped the switch because I thought it was supposed to be the other way.” _

_ -“We went over this before. It’s nothing criminal. It was innocent.” _

_ -“I don’t understand why you’re finding me suspicious.” _

_ -“I went in, flipped the switch, and went out. There was nothing more to it.” _

_ -“You’re being overly harsh with me, accusing me of murder over a simple cut.” _

_ -“You have no evidence I was at the crime scene. You have no evidence at all!” _

_ -“I flipped the switch and did nothing else!” _

“He sure is getting confrontational,” I murmured.

“I suppose that’s what happens when you accuse someone of murder,” Mr.  Morix  shrugged.

“We should go on and begin our cross-examination,” I told him. “We don’t have much to talk about regarding his testimony.”

“Then go on and begin,” Judge  Diaphan  instructed with a nod. 

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ Flipping the Switch ~ **

_ -“I already told you, I flipped the switch because I thought it was supposed to be the other way.” _

_ -“We went over this before. It’s nothing criminal. It was innocent.” _

_ -“I don’t understand why you’re finding me suspicious.” _

_ -“I went in, flipped the switch, and went out. There was nothing more to it.” _

_ -“You’re being overly harsh with me, accusing me of murder over a simple cut.” _

_ -“You have no evidence I was at the crime scene. You have no evidence at all!” _

_ -“I flipped the switch and did nothing else!” _

“Objection!”

“You know, we heard from the other witness,  Clarith  Blake, that something else did happen relating to the murder and the switch being flipped,” I remarked, a frown on my face. I hoped my poker face was alright, as I didn’t know how we would catch him in his lies if this failed.

“What?” Mr. Barr asked. He clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it down onto the witness stand. “You had better start talking now!”

“The previous witness saw you entering the gymnasium near the time of the murder. Ms. Blake claimed that you entered the gymnasium with a cloth in your hand,” I explained. Prosecutor Lin smirked from across the court before whispering to Prosecutor Burke to explain the plan. Prosecutor Burke nodded after catching on, and I could see a smirk playing on her lips too.

“A cloth? Why in the world would I be carrying a cloth into the gymnasium? There was no cloth,” Mr. Barr growled. “She must have been mistaken when looking at me. I didn’t have a cloth.”

“If she didn’t see a cloth, then what it is that you had?” Mr. Morix asked.

“I grabbed a bottle!” Mr. Barr snapped. “There was no cloth! It was always a bottle!”

Everybody was silent after he shouted that. Pride rose in my chest. Our bluff was working perfectly well. All we had to do now was show Ms. Claris’ testimony regarding the bottle, and we would be home free!

Unfortunately, Prosecutor Lin didn’t seem to want that to happen. She smiled to herself before speaking to Mr. Barr. “She told us that you had  got ten it from the supplies in the gymnasium where all the decorations were being kept,” she smirked. “Is that true?”

Mr. Barr growled. “No, of course not! The victim gave it to me!” he shouted.

Silence reigned once again. Prosecutor Lin broke through the tension by snickering. “You know, we came to that conclusion during the previous segment of the trial... We heard it wasn’t from the supplies used for the decorations... If you got the bottle from the victim, where did you receive it and at what time?”

Mr. Barr was silent for a moment. He seemed to be piecing together phrases in his head, a frown on his face.

“You know, we talked to the defendant and the owner of the bottle during the recess,” I commented. It seemed our plan was going well. We were tripping him up by stating falsities regarding the bottle. All it would take was for him to correct us on something he shouldn’t have known about. Victory was in sight now.

“What did she say?” Mr. Barr asked.

“She told us what was inside the bottle,” I explained. “Did you happen to hear about that from the victim at all when she supposedly gave it to you?”

“It’s none of your business! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it isn’t going to work!” Mr. Barr shouted.

“The bottle had sword-cleaning fluid in it,” I told him. “She also told us that it was important evidence involving what she asked the victim to analyze. Did you hear anything about that before coming into the courtroom, or should we explain it?”

“No,” Mr. Barr said bluntly.

“The motive we proposed for the defendant committing the crime involved this piece of evidence,” Prosecutor Lin began. “She originally gave it to the victim to analyze for fingerprints. We thought that she had grown murderous when the victim refused to return it to her, but we didn’t know what the evidence was.”

“She didn’t explain what the evidence was, but we believe it was taken from the crime scene after the victim died,” I went on. “She told us during the recess that the evidence was a bottle of fluid she wanted tested for prints.”

“It’s not just any bottle of fluid,” Mr. Barr grumbled.

“It has what inside then?” Mr. Morix prompted.

“It’s none of your business!” Mr. Barr shouted, slamming one hand against the witness stand before him. “Just leave me alone already! I’m sick of all your pestering and nagging! Leave me be!”

“The victim had the bottle with her up until her death. She didn’t give it to anybody else,” I said firmly. “If she had it on her, she couldn’t have given it to you. You would have had to have taken it by force, say, if you murdered her.”

“I didn’t try to get my hands on that damn sword fluid!” Mr. Barr exclaimed.

“How could you possibly know that’s what was inside?” I questioned. “You wouldn’t know what was inside unless you took it yourself since the victim wouldn’t have given something up that wasn’t even hers. It doesn’t make any logical sense.”

“Just shut up already! I’m sick of talking to you!” Mr. Barr cried out. He slammed his hands on the witness stand once more. “I didn’t even want to come here! I wouldn’t have bothered coming to testify if I knew it was going to get me accused of murder!”

“You know, we already have you caught here, Mr. Barr,” Mr.  Morix  cut in with a small smirk. “Think about it. All we need to do is analyze the blood found at the scene of the murder and see if some of it didn’t belong to the victim. All we need to do is see if any blood was found on that mysterious object seen in the victim’s pocket in the photo of the crime scene. All we need to do is see if the knife in the victim’s pocket matches up with the cuts on your lower arm.”

I nodded to myself, catching onto what he was doing. “He’s right. It would only take a short forensics test. Plus, you knew what was inside the bottle when you shouldn’t have. You flipped the switch to lower the basketball goal. You covered up the bullet hole in the wall.”

Mr.  Morix  let out a small gasp. “You know, the bullet that caused the bullet hole was never found at the scene of the crime... What if it was removed from the wall by the culprit when he went to lower the basketball goal? He could cover the hole and get rid of the bullet at the same time. Of course, letting something like that linger around could be bad... With the right tests on the bullet, it would be easy to figure out where it had come from,” he commented.

“So, the culprit would have kept the bottle and the bullet,” I nodded.  “That being said, you  seem to have something in your pocket, and it looks to be the outline of a small bottle, just the same as the one described by the previous witness... Isn’t that quite the coincidence?”

“Shut up! Shut up already!” Mr. Barr shouted, his hands clawing at his head. “I’m tired of listening to you people and all of your lies! Stop talking!”

“It wouldn’t take long to prove your guilt,” I commented. “It would only take one forensics test or a search of what you have on you right now... Why don’t you make this easier on yourself and hand over the bottle you have hiding in your pocket?”

“It belongs to one person, and unless your name is Aria Claris, it’s not yours,” Mr.  Morix  told him with a shake of his head. “I’m disappointed. Now, why don’t you hand over the bottle and the bullet and make this easier on all of us? Maybe then you’ll get off on a lighter sentence.”

I looked to Mr. Barr and watched as he slammed his hands against the witness stand once again. When I saw the look in his eye, I knew we had done it. He was about to be proven guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a time crunch so there's no author's note here oof
> 
> -Digital


	5. Return to the Turnabout, Part 5

** January 26 **

** Courtroom No. 1 **

** 1:30 PM **

** Deirdre Brigit **

True to my suspicions, it didn’t take long for Mr. Barr to snap under the pressure we were putting on him. He slammed his hands against the witness stand once before looking up at me with a glare. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He raised it over his head before slamming it into the ground. I flinched, unsure of what it would be. I had a bad feeling about it though, and that was probably putting it lightly. My stomach turned and twisted as if it was an angry tempest. 

In the end, my fears wound up being unfounded. The object in question that he had thrown was a bullet that appeared to have been smashed up against something. I smiled to myself. “Checkmate,” I whispered. That was our final piece of evidence to prove he had done it. We had been thinking before all that would be required as a search of Mr. Barr to see if he had the bullet on him that had been taken from the crime scene, and sure enough, here it was. He had certainly made our jobs much easier.

“There it is!” Mr. Barr roared. “Now shut up! I’ve had enough of your words! It’s time for you to shut up! I don’t want to hear your voice anymore! Leave me alone! I'm sick of this!”

“It looks like the pressure finally got to him,” Mr.  Morix  hissed with a small smirk. “I wasn’t entirely sure if our plan was going to work, if you want the truth. It was starting to show a few cracks.”

“I was worried too. It didn’t seem like we would have been able to prove it without a forensics examination of the blood at the crime scene or a search of his person to see if he had the bullet on him, but the idea of being caught was enough to break him,” I replied. “It’s a win for psychology today, it seems.”

“Maybe we should add that to our list of weapons in the courtroom. Psychological manipulation, that is,” Mr.  Morix  laughed, though I could tell he was joking. We couldn’t be sure it would work in the future, after all, so it was probably best to leave it on the back burner unless it proved to be vital.

“Bailiffs, arrest Mr. Barr,” Judge  Diaphan  cut in. The bailiffs in the courtroom followed her instructions and moved towards him with handcuffs. Mr. Barr glared at them angrily, but he seemed to be able to sense that he couldn’t do much of anything to fight back against them since they had the advantage of numbers.

Mr. Barr was taken out of the courtroom shortly after. He spent his entire path out glaring at me, ready to lunge for my throat. I was thankful he was restrained, as I got the  feeling  I would have wound up in a hospital bed or as the next victim if he was still free to do as he pleased.

Judge  Diaphan  waited until the courtroom doors were closed with a soft tapping sound before speaking. “It appears that we found the truth behind this case at the end of the day,” she remarked.

“I didn’t see it coming, that’s for sure,” Prosecutor Lin admitted. I got the feeling she was lying with how easily she had let us win. That part was still something of a mystery to me. I didn’t know what Mr.  Morix  had been hinting at before regarding why Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke would have a motive to hold back. It didn’t make much sense to me with the limited evidence I had.

“I’m willing to bet his motive had something to do with the bottle mentioned earlier. If that was the motive for the defendant, it could easily apply to someone else. I don’t know why he would be after it, but the chance is still there,” Prosecutor Burke announced.

“I suppose that will have to remain a mystery for another day, perhaps when his trial comes around,” Judge  Diaphan  suggested. “Until then, I see no reason to hold this trial off any longer. Are there any objections from the defense?”

“The defense has no objections,” I answered with a small smile. I couldn’t help but feel on top of the world after that victory. It had been the first time I had managed to win a case with the help of psychology, and it felt great. I would have to put more related skills into my toolbox in the future.

“And the prosecution?” Judge  Diaphan  asked, looking towards Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke. 

“No, we have no objections,” Prosecutor Burke answered after sharing a small glance with Prosecutor Lin. A few seconds later, Prosecutor Lin pulled out a plastic bag from her pocket before walking over to the ground in front of the witness stand. She seized the bullet from the floor and dropped it into the bag before sealing it. “This will probably be important evidence for his trial, whenever that is.”

“I agree,” Prosecutor Burke nodded. “I can give it to Detective Erikson after court is adjourned.”

“If there are no further deliberations to be made, it’s time that I declared my verdict,” Judge  Diaphan  announced. “This court hereby finds the defendant, Aria Claris, not guilty. Court is adjourned!”

Judge  Diaphan  grabbed her gavel and slammed it down on the bench before her. Chatter broke out immediately as people headed towards the doors. I shared a smile with Mr.  Morix  and began to stack up our papers so we could make our exit as well. Ms. Claris approached us at the same time. She looked up at me with a small smirk. 

The instant I met her eyes, I realized what everyone had been talking about in this case. A gasp left my lips. Ms. Claris, seeing I had caught up, nodded and headed out to the defendant lobby, an invitation for me to come and speak to her further.

I was going to be following up on that, believe me.

** January 26 **

** Defendant  ** ** Lobby ** **** ** No. 1 **

** 1: ** ** 45  ** ** PM **

** Deirdre Brigit **

When I got out to the lobby, Ms. Claris was waiting on the couch on the other side of the lobby. She was tapping one foot and staring at the ground mindlessly. When Mr.  Morix  and I approached her, she looked up and smiled. “Took you two long enough,” she snarked.

“We had to pack up,” Mr.  Morix  shrugged. “Now, we have something to discuss, don’t we?”

“We do,” I nodded, looking down at Ms. Claris sternly. “Now, tell me, Chrysalis... Why did you keep this from me?” I made sure to say ‘me’ since I knew Mr. Morix, Prosecutor Lin, and Prosecutor Burke were already fully aware of the implications of her actions. It was the main explanation that made sense.

Besides, only Chrysalis would find a bottle of fluid meant to clean swords important. After all, she was still looking for someone who would own such a thing. It was why Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke had been holding back too. The four of them had been fooling an entire courtroom of people, including me. 

Ms. Claris, or more accurately, Chrysalis, shook her head. “It took you a while to figure it out, huh?” she murmured. “I suppose I can’t blame you. We didn’t exactly have a chance to explain the truth to you in a safe environment before this mess started.”

“Well, what’s the story? How did you get your hands on a bottle of sword cleaning fluid? What is that relevant to?” I asked, though I already knew the answer had something to do with everyone’s favorite missing defense attorney.

Ms. Claris let out a sigh and shook her head. “I’m sure you remember when I finally made my belated trip to Germany in December, I found nothing. I thought I had finally found Pieter, but in the end, it was nothing. I was wrong. I found the empty apartment he had been staying in up until that point. He had moved out a while ago, but he forgot a bottle of sword cleaning fluid. I wanted to get it tested to see if it had anything that would point me to where he is now. Nobody in the apartment building had a clue, so I’m on my own, I’m afraid,” she explained. 

“Of course, you aren’t going to be getting your hands on it for quite some time now. It’s going to be important evidence in Mr. Barr’ s trial next,” Mr.  Morix  frowned. “I don’t know if it’ll even be returned to your hands at all.”

Ms. Claris murmured a swear before returning to the story at hand. “Besides, it’s not like whatever was on the bottle is still there. It’s been passed around countless times between me, Ms. Rensicks, and now, Mr. Barr. He took it from the crime scene because for whatever reason, he thought it would be important. If he thinks it’s going to help him out at all, he’s in for a nasty surprise. It’s only important to us members of the project,” she said softly.

“Were you looking for fingerprints or something?” I asked.

“Yeah. I wanted to make sure that I was on the right track. That was why I came here. Ms.  Rensicks  was once a forensic scientist before she settled down at the college to get a teaching degree. I figured she would be able to help me out. The precinct is too oriented with pieces of evidence from actual cases, and since this is less of a case and more of an ongoing investigation, I would have to find my way to testing on my own. She was my ticket to that,” Ms. Claris explained.

“Why did she have it the day of the crime?” I questioned next.

“After the graduation ended, we were supposed to go over it and see what evidence remained on it. She wanted help with setting up the graduation though. We’ve been talking for about a month now where this evidence is concerned, and she seemed to think I would be helpful in setting this place up for the graduation ceremony. I was dragged into things because of that,” Ms. Claris went on. “Mr. Barr seemed interested in it though.”

“I have a sneaking suspicion I know what his motive was. We didn’t get a chance to fully go over it in the trial, and I think that’s for the best. My theory needs to stay quiet anyways,” Mr.  Morix  began. “Perhaps he was following the trail of a certain spy infamous for her work behind the scenes of the legal world. Perhaps he thought Ms. Rensicks had something to do with that spy.”

“And since he heard Ms.  Rensicks  was holding onto important evidence, he went after her. He figured he could use it to his advantage to find her,” I realized with a nod.

“Of course, he was met with a nasty surprise. The sword cleaning fluid was the evidence. He guessed that much correctly. However, while it does belong to me, it doesn’t give any clues at all. In truth, it’s just here to help me find the peskiest big brother in existence,” Ms. Claris huffed. “I almost feel bad for the guy, but at the same time, he most certainly deserved it.”

“Was he really at the graduation to set up?” Mr. Morix asked next.

“I doubt it. I mean, a lot of people were helping with the graduation. All he had to do was sneak in and say one of the other teachers had invited him to help set up. Nobody would be able to tell since this wasn’t exactly the most formal of arrangements,” Ms. Claris replied. “In other words, it was the perfect chance for him to sneak into the area to get his hands on that bottle, even if it turned out to be useless to him in the end.”

“I have a few other questions now, but they aren’t exactly related to the case,” I frowned. “Why didn’t you tell us anything about this beforehand? You should have called the agency to let us know that you had been arrested on a murder charge. We would have had time to investigate before the trial began then.”

Ms. Claris shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice. You remember why this project was created to begin with, yes?” she prompted.

I nodded. “To fight corruption. You want to return the legal world to what it once was before things began to fall in quality. You told me that much after the Interpol case.”

“There are examples of corruption everywhere in daily life. All you  have to  do is look in the right places. This case provides the perfect place for you to look, as a matter of fact,” Ms. Claris told me. “I asked some of the police officers in charge of my detention for my phone call, and they denied it. No matter how much I pressed, I was never allowed to make the call.”

“It wasn’t until late last night that I heard what had happened. Sora and Polly had been assigned to the case by Ghastly. It was his way of protecting the project, even if he couldn’t take the case on himself. He wanted to ensure nothing went horribly wrong, and for that, I am thankful. He got people involved in the project to hold back in court. He knew they wouldn’t forge evidence on top of that, ensuring a swift victory for the defense,” Mr. Morix explained. 

“You had to wait for a call from one of them to hear about the case at all,” I murmured, nodding. “I understand now. You’re right about that being a strong example of corruption. I haven’t heard about anything like that happening before.”

“Ghastly had to pull some strings to get  Cotoli  assigned by the state to the case. It was lucky his influence was able to stretch that far this time,” Ms. Claris murmured with a shake of her head. “In conclusion, the legal system is a trashy mess that needs to be pushed and manipulated in order to reach its full potential. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s also the truth.”

“There is one more thing that’s bothering me though,” I frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me about Aria Claris in the first place?”

Ms. Claris tensed up. She didn’t dare to meet my gaze, instead staring at the floor solemnly. “It was supposed to be a quick thing. It wasn’t meant to take as long as it did. I was supposed to go in, see the analysis of the bottle, and get out. The extra baggage that came with was not in the plan, as I’m sure you guessed. I didn’t think it would be needed to tell you I had another alias to hide under. I figured it would pass too quickly for it to be relevant,” she explained slowly.

I frowned. “You know you can always talk to me, Ms. Claris. I’ll always be here to listen to you, whether your problems be related to corruption or otherwise. I don’t want to see you put under excessive mental pressure because of this. As your friendly neighborhood psychologist, and as a friend, I want you to know that I’m here for you. You know that, right?” I asked.

Ms. Claris nodded. “Yeah, I know... I don’t like keeping things from you. It makes me feel bad.”

“And you don’t need to keep things hidden inside anymore. I helped to free you from a group of evil assassins a few months ago. Do you think I’m going to betray you now?” I questioned with a small smile, hoping she would catch onto the joke.

Ms. Claris snorted to herself and shook her head. “No... You wouldn’t do that. I know that. You’re far too nice to think of turning your back on me. Besides, if you tried it, I would know.” She reached down into her pocket and pulled out a small stone in the shape of half a Yin-Yang symbol. Her Magatama. It pulsed with a gentle teal light as she shoved it back into its proper position. 

“I suppose that’s true,” I smiled. “The point still stands. I’m not going to turn my back on you. It isn’t going to happen now or ever. You can trust me with that much. I understand why you’d be hesitant given the situation from the Interpol case, but—”

“No, it’s okay. You don’t need to say those things. You’re right. I should be more open with you, Lily, and Yuri. What kind of boss am I if I don’t regularly practice transparency? It would make me just as bad as the people I’m trying to take down, and that’s the last thing that I want,” Ms. Claris cut in. “I just hope you’re willing to forgive me for all of this. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you.”

“Just so long as you promise to come to us in the future, I think I’ll let it slide,” I assured her.

Ms. Claris nodded firmly. “Deal. Now, let’s get back to the agency. I don’t think I want to stick around here anymore. I have some sleep to catch up on. It’ll feel nice to be back in a bed  actually meant  for humans. They could have fooled me given the low quality of the crap at the detention center.”

“Are you really going to leave without saying hello?”

I turned upon hearing that familiar voice. To my surprise, Neptune Mercure was standing just behind me, her arms crossed as she smiled playfully. “And Ms. Claris, don’t you owe me a hug or something? I think it’s against friend protocol to avoid greeting a companion. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Ms. Claris smiled in return and approached Ms. Mercure, giving her a brief hug. “I didn’t know you were in the gallery,” she murmured. 

“I have my ways of surprising you, I suppose,” Ms. Mercure shrugged. “Besides, I simply didn’t get the chance to talk to you up until this point.”

“How did you know about...?” I prompted, hoping she would be able to put the remaining pieces together. I didn’t understand how I had managed to avoid the information about Ms. Claris’ identity when Ms. Mercure seemed fully aware. It was strange to me at best and horribly suspicious at worst.

Ms. Mercure looked in my direction with a shrug. “She’s as transparent as a ghost to me. It doesn’t matter how she looks. I always find a way to learn the truth. The sooner you figure that out, the better,” she remarked. “For the record, I heard none of this officially from the horse’s mouth. I can just tell.”

“It’s practically her super power,” Ms. Claris sighed. “No matter what you do, you can’t hide from Neptune. While it can be a bit aggravating at times, you get used to it after a while.”

“I don’t think you can really call it aggravating. Isn’t it sweet that I can tell what my best friend is up to at all times?” Ms. Mercure asked, earning her an eye roll and a playful punch on the arm from Ms. Claris.

“Why are you here?” Mr. Morix cut in.

“Clarith, actually. We’re roommates of sorts, if you can believe it. I came in with our current caretaker, X. I’m sure you remember him from the Interpol case. He was the one who helped me figure out where the hostages were being held. The three of us are roommates or something. Call it what you want,” Ms. Mercure shrugged. “Because she was testifying, X came along. I was planning on coming no matter what. The fact that a certain someone happened to get in trouble was pure coincidence, I assure you.”

“You sure are unique. That’s for sure,” I murmured with a shake of my head.

“Anyways, we should probably be on our way.  Clarith  wanted to get home as soon as possible,” Ms. Mercure said. 

“Wait! Not yet!”

Speaking of Ms. Blake, she appeared. A boy with blonde hair was at her side, and sure enough, I did recognize him as the same X from Interpol the year before. Ms. Blake rushed towards Ms. Claris, rubbing at her eyes, which I noticed were filled with tears. “I’m sorry for everything!” Ms. Blake exclaimed.

“You mean testifying against me?” Ms. Claris asked.

Ms. Blake nodded. “I’m sorry... I didn’t think you had really done it. The police officers did nothing but tell me that you were the one who... They were handling the investigation until prosecutors were assigned, and... I’m sorry,” she said quickly.

Ms. Claris smiled gently in response. “It’s okay. I forgive you. Don’t sweat it at all,” she assured Ms. Blake. The two shared a brief embrace, which was enough to make me smile to myself. They sure were sweet...

After a few seconds, the two pulled apart. Ms. Blake rubbed at her eyes. “Well... I should be on my way. I’ll see you guys later,” she said, turning back to Ms. Mercure and X.

Ms. Mercure approached Ms. Claris and gave her a quick hug before turning on her heel and walking away. “See you!” she chirped as she, Ms. Blake, and X disappeared from view.

“She sure is an odd egg,” I murmured. I got the feeling the other two already knew exactly who I was talking  about.  I couldn’t imagine them not knowing who I meant. 

“I must agree,” Mr.  Morix  admitted. “However, she’s got a sweet heart and doesn’t seem to have malicious intentions, so I’ll let it slide.”

“Plus, you know she’s a good person. I tell you that much all the time,” Ms. Claris reminded him. “And as an unofficial coworker of hers, it’s probably good that you two get along. After all, if you didn’t, it would just cause more problems for us all, and that’s the last thing any of us want.”

“You make a good point there,” Mr.  Morix  nodded. “Anyways, we should get going for real now. I’m sure Lily and Yuri are going to be wondering why we never showed up for work this morning. Because it was on such short notice, there’s a chance they don’t know where we are, and that’s a recipe for disaster if you look through it in the right lens.”

“I want to take a nap too. Like I said, sleep doesn’t come easily when you’re in the detention center. That place should be outlawed, honestly,” Ms. Claris joked, making Mr. Morix laugh. 

“Outlawed detention center or not, the agency awaits,” I smiled, heading for the door. The other two followed me out.

However, while this case seemed closed, I still knew it likely wasn’t. Our cases seemed to have a common theme, and they never took place without being part of something greater. I couldn’t help but wonder how Mr. Barr learned the truth behind Ms.  Rensicks  having that bottle. How did he get his hands on the information that Oracle was at the college at the time? It was a question that was going to be left unanswered for quite some time, and the truth was going to surprise us all whether we were ready for it or not.

But until then, all we could do was continue to go about our everyday lives unaware of what was coming. Those days would be happy and filled with joy, a stark contrast from the future set to come when the case of the murder at  Blackgate  College turned out to be only the prologue for a dark tragedy with all the agency members as its players...

We had no idea what we were getting into, though the future was undoubtedly dreary despite our ignorance.

** January 26 **

** Unknown Location **

** 6:30  ** ** PM **

** Unknown Perspective **

“Judging by how glued you are to the TV at this moment, I’m going to assume that something important happened to you.”

As she walked inside the living room, I let out a sigh. I reached for the remote, ready to turn the TV off so as not to bother her, but she grabbed it before I could and turned up the sound. 

_ “In a strange turnabout, a young woman accused of killing a college professor has been proven innocent. The true killer has been revealed to have murdered the victim over a bottle of sword cleaning fluid, shown here.” _

I took this time to take a drink from my tea cup, but that proved to be a mistake. As soon as the bottle was shown on the screen, I nearly choked on the liquid. I managed to force it down through my shock, but it certainly took more effort than is normal.

She took a seat next to me and began to pat at the space between my shoulder blades to help me breathe normally once again. She frowned once she saw what was on the screen. “Wait... Isn’t that yours?” she asked in surprise, turning to face me. 

I nodded slowly. “Yeah... I accidentally left it in our old apartment before we came here. I have no idea what in the world it would be doing here... I can’t think of any other explanation for why a bottle of German sword cleaning fluid would be here in America. It makes no sense...”

I didn’t mention anything about how it could have gotten over here to begin with. I had no idea myself, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever explanation was going to inevitably come up. It could easily go against my hopes, and that was the last thing I wanted.

“What are you going to do about it?” she questioned of me with a frown.

“There’s not much I can do. The police are going to be keeping it if it’s evidence. I can’t really get my hands on it, especially since I probably don’t own it in their eyes. They probably think whoever gave it to them to begin with is the owner,” I answered.

_ “The young woman in question was named Aria Claris. Here, she is seen just before the trial. She was defended by a pair of attorneys who we have not been able to interview yet. They proved her innocence and showed the court and all the people inside that the culprit was in truth a man by the name of Denton Barr. His trial will be taking place at some point over the course of the next week or so.” _

I would have choked again if I had been drinking my tea when the defendant was shown. She at first didn’t seem familiar, but the more I looked, the more I recognized her. Her eyes stared down at the ground in a way I knew all too well. Her slumped over posture was just as familiar. It was enough to send a shiver running up and down my spine.

“You just got pretty pale,” the woman frowned. “Are you okay? Do you know that girl or something?”

I stared down at my hands, unsure of what to tell her. “Something like that... Yeah, you could say that,” I answered. I hadn’t explained the full extent of my past to her yet, and I didn’t know how she would react to me dropping many bombshells on her. Even if we had been together for the past few years, I didn’t want to risk her leaving when she heard the truth about who I had once been before leaving my home behind to travel to Germany. 

“You know that you can talk to me, right?” she prompted, moving a bit closer to me. She placed one hand over mine and squeezed it gently. I knew it well, as that was her way of reassuring me. I had always found it comforting, and she seemed to know it, which was why she practiced it often when I found myself panicking.

I nodded slowly. “Yes, of course... I just... It’s a long story, and I don’t think I want to get into it right now. I hope that’s okay with you... Plus, it isn’t exactly my tale to tell. I don’t want to go against the wishes of the person who explained it to me to begin with. If you’re meant to find out, I’m sure you will one day,” I told her.

The woman nodded and perched her head on my shoulder. “Alright. I trust you,” she said simply. 

We sat there for a few minutes, ignoring the news report that had made itself into background noise since the start of our conversation. After a while, she got up and stretched out. “What do you want for dinner? It’s just going to be the two of us tonight,” she told me.

“Where is...?” I prompted.

“Out with new friends,” she answered. “I could order a pizza, if that’s okay.”

I nodded. “Yes, that sounds great. Thank you.”

She dashed off to call the pizza place as I continued to stare at the TV. It had moved onto another report, so I grabbed the remote and went backwards by pressing one of the buttons until it had been taken back to the point that the defendant was shown.

I felt a tear welling up in my eye. I rubbed at it furiously, knowing I couldn’t cry without making her suspicious. She would force it out of me if she knew it was causing me this much trouble, so I would just have to keep it quiet.

I reached out one hand, longing to touch the TV despite its position on the other side of the room. My arm dropped shortly after. “Chrysalis...” I whispered with a shake of my head. I stared at my palm before clenching it into a fist. “I’m sorry...”

** RETURN TO THE TURNABOUT **

** END **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be pretty obvious at this point who this mysterious someone is. 
> 
> Even so, I'm not saying shit about it.
> 
> This update was finished so early. I love it when I finish chapters early.
> 
> Also plot twist with Aria Claris I suppose
> 
> -Digital


	6. Turnabout Wilds, Part 1

“Alright, here we are. Let’s see... Where is he...?”

_ “He’s got to be around here somewhere...” _

*RING*

_ “Oh, sorry. That’s me. I’ll be back.” _

“What should we do now?”

** “Perish.” **

“Ack-!”

_ “Ah! No!! Wake up! Wake up!!” _

** March 3 **

** Morix Law Offices **

** 11:30 AM **

** Chrysalis Starr **

I sat in the main working area of the agency, playing around on my phone. “When should they be here?” I asked, looking up to my brother.

Cotoli, who was sitting beside me, shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. They were supposed to be here a few minutes ago, but they should be here soon...”

“Do you think the other three are going to take it alright?” I questioned with a frown.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t,”  Cotoli  frowned. “Do you want to check outside again?”

I got to my feet and crossed the room to look out the window. I saw a pair of cars parked outside, making a grin crack on my face. “It looks like they’re here,” I told him. “Unless the pair of cars outside belongs to two other mysterious figures that barely anybody in our agency has met, that is.”

The two of us headed for the elevator before descending to the bottom floor of the building to meet our guests, or the two new lawyers we had brought into our agency. After bringing Deirdre and Lily in the year before, we had seen incredible success with our work methods.  Cotoli  wanted to put that on a wider scale, which is why he opened applications up a while ago. The other lawyers and Yuri didn’t seem to be aware of the fact, even if we weren’t trying to keep it a secret. They hadn’t asked, so we hadn’t mentioned it.

A woman walked into the lobby first. She had silvery hair that faded out to white at the edges tied into a ponytail. A pair of hairclips kept lingering strands away from her face. A necklace hung from her neck. Her eyes were dark blue and framed by black glasses. She had a black suit jacket over a turquoise shirt on. She had trousers and boots of the same black shade. She had a silver bracelet on her right wrist adorned with a blue set of scales. 

Cotoli  smiled. “You must be Victoria von Graye,” he remarked.

“Hello,” the woman, Victoria, grinned nervously. “It’s nice to meet you... Are you the owner of this agency?”

“ Cotoli Morix , at your service,”  Cotoli  confirmed, extending his hand to shake. 

“I’m Chrysalis,” I told her, cracking a smile, “Cotoli’s little sister and the real master of this agency.”

Victoria giggled, as if she thought it was a joke. “It’s nice to meet you two. Where are the other people of the agency? I’d like to meet them too, if that’s possible,” she said.

I pulled out my phone and sent a brief text to the agency’s group chat that there was somebody for them to meet. They were going to be met with quite the surprise when they saw Victoria and our other new employee, that was for sure. 

“They’ll be upstairs. We’ll be up briefly. We have another person to give greetings to,”  Cotoli  answered. “Feel free to look around. A formal introduction circle will commence shortly, I promise, but for now, this will have to do.”

Victoria nodded hesitantly, though I could tell she was still unsure of what to do. I pointed her to the elevator silently, prompting her to follow my directions and enter the elevator. She disappeared behind the doors soon after.

“How long until he’ll be here?” I asked. I didn’t know much about our other new employee, just that it was a guy this time.  Cotoli  would thankfully have another man to hang out with instead of leading a bunch of excitable and nihilistic women into court. He deserved it after hanging out with only girls for three years.

“I think now,”  Cotoli  answered, pointing to the door.

A man had appeared on the other side of the glass. He walked through the door not long after. He had dark brown hair and matching eyes. He had a black suit on with matching dress pants. His shoes were shiny and the color of the midnight sky. He had a white button-up shirt beneath the jacket with a bright blue tie. He had one hand stuffed in a pocket of his suit jacket. I noticed his visible hand was hidden by a pristine white glove. 

“Hello,” the man said with a small smile.

“ Cormous Arme ,”  Cotoli  greeted simply. “It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to the agency.”

Cormous  smiled more, now at ease thanks to the casual greeting. “It’s nice to meet you too. You must be the owner of the agency. Cotoli Morix, correct?” he asked.

“Yes, you’re right,”  Cotoli  nodded. “You’ve heard of me before, it seems.”

“It’s hard not to have heard of you with how much your agency was on the news last year.  All of  those cases relating to spies and assassins... It sure did drum up publicity. I’m surprised you’re not swamped with requests at this point,”  Cormous  commented.

“Crime has decreased drastically since those days, and civil cases aren’t our thing. None of our lawyers are trained to take on civil cases, which means criminal trials will have to work,” I shrugged. “Besides, what we do as it is gives us enough. Our current system is perfectly serviceable.”

“Who might you be, little lady?”  Cormous  asked with a flirtatious smile.

I frowned. “For one, too young for you,” I snapped with a roll of my eyes. “If you want my name, it’s Chrysalis.”

“Let’s head up to the main area of the agency. We  have to  talk to the others about our new coworkers. They’ll be excited to meet you and Victoria, the other newcomer to the company,”  Cotoli  cut in, though I could tell he didn’t exactly approve of  Cormous ’ smirk from a few moments before. “There’s no time to waste. Let’s go.”

The three of us all headed to the elevator silently. Nobody said a word until after we had arrived in the main area a few floors up. Victoria, Deirdre, Lily, and Yuri were already there, though I could tell the atmosphere was heavy and awkward.

“I see you’ve all met each other,” nodded  Cotoli , crossing her arms. 

“Yes, you could say that,” Deirdre said, a small frown on her face. “When did you hire them?”

“It was after our last case in January. I  opened applications sooner, but I didn’t make my final decision until after that last case. I  decided it would be a good idea to bring more people in, so I hired the two of them. Meet Victoria von Graye and Cormous Arme, our two new employees. You’re all going to be working together for the foreseeable future, so it might be best that you all learn to get along,”  Cotoli  explained.

“I suppose you make a good point... In that case, let’s start socializing or whatever,” Yuri suggested with a smile.

I heard my phone beep from its place in my pocket. I pulled it out and stared at the notification that had appeared on my screen. I read the words aloud, a frown on my face. “’Murder at local wildlife sanctuary leaves attorney dead by arrow shot.’”

“Arrow shot?” Lily echoed with a frown. “That’s a strange way to die, and at a wildlife sanctuary no less...”

“Perhaps this is a good chance to bond. Let’s see who was arrested and consider taking on the case,” Cotoli suggested, nodding my direction.

I clicked on the notification at his suggestion and scrolled through the article that appeared. “It looks like the victim was a lawyer working at Blocker Law,” I murmured with a frown.  Last  I had heard, Blocker Law had been mostly disbanded following the death of the owner. It had left the limelight following his death two years ago. Perhaps somebody had managed to take over the agency, allowing it to press on. 

“Who’s the suspect?” Yuri asked urgently, appearing at my side to read over my shoulder.

I scrolled down further before seeing a name. “Ah, here it is. Sky Amaya,” I said. “Wait... Sky Amaya...”

I shared a brief glance with Cotoli, a frown appearing on my face. I hadn’t heard that name since the last time Blocker Law had been in the spotlight when Jackson Blocker was murdered by a member of the now-captured Occisor. Felicity Amaya had been the suspect, and her twin brother had been a witness. Now, it seemed the roles were set to be reversed.

“Hm... Let’s think... Who should take on this case...?”  Cotoli  whispered. “Deirdre and I were on the most recent case... Plus, I want to stick a newcomer on the case, and throwing in a veteran wouldn’t be a bad idea... Lily, how do you feel about taking the case on with Cormous?”

Lily shared a brief glance with  Cormous , a shocked expression crossing her face. “I... I suppose it wouldn’t hurt... Sure,” she shrugged. “You’re right about it being a good way to bond... Plus, I haven’t been out in a while, and I’m sure he could use the experience...”

“Sounds good for us all then,”  Cotoli  nodded curtly. “Victoria and Yuri can take on something next time. Until then, we can introduce her to the agency.”

Victoria nodded. “Alright. I appreciate all of this,” she told him.

“Maybe you can tell us more about yourself. That would be a good place to start,” I suggested, taking a seat on the couch. The others were prompted to do such at the same time. “Where should we go from there?”

“We should probably head out to the detention center to hear more from our suspect,” Lily cut in. “I wish we could stay and talk more about our new friends here at the agency, but I don’t think we’ll be able to... I’m sure I’ll get to know Victoria fine soon enough. Is that alright with you, Cormous?”

Cormous  responded with a nod. “Perhaps this is a perfect chance for me to get to know you, a lovely lady, as far as I can tell,” he remarked, a grin appearing on his face.

I frowned in response. I already didn’t know how I felt about this guy, but at the same time, I had always been slow to warm to people. It took me a while to get along with others, and that was putting it lightly, so I was probably just being stubborn with my interactions as usual. Chances were I was exaggerating Cormous’ negative attributes, something I would hopefully get over soon enough.

“I’m not ready for a relationship, and to my knowledge, nobody else here is either,” Lily told him with a shake of her head. “Or maybe they’re taken. I don’t know. I haven’t done enough snooping into their love lives recently, so I can’t be positive right now. I guess that’s going to be my next mission after I finish up this case.”

I saw Victoria’s face go pink at the remark about being in a relationship. A smirk appeared on my lips. “It appears we’ve found our perfect place to start with on learning about Victoria. This always entertains other people, especially where our agency is concerned. We all know, Yuri, Lily, and I are too obsessed with romance for our own good. It’s something to start up conversation for sure,” I told her. 

“Darn. I really wish I could be here for this. Spill the gossip when I get back, alright?” Lily asked, turning on her heel and heading for the door to the elevator.  Cormous  trailed after her, leaving Victoria, Yuri, Deirdre, Cotoli, and me in the room. He shot us a wink, making Yuri groan and roll her eyes. 

I turned to Victoria again as they left. “So,” I started simply, “I want to hear about this relationship of yours. There’s no better place to start in a friendship than gossiping about romantic partners, right?”

** March 3 **

** Detention Center **

** 12:30 PM **

** Lily Shield **

When we arrived at the detention center,  Cormous  and I waited silently on the visiting side of the glass as we waited for our potential client to arrive. I hadn’t said much of anything, as even if I was normally a conversational person, I didn’t know where to start with where he was concerned. He didn’t seem to be much different from other people I knew, but I didn’t want to mess anything up since we’d be working together for quite some time. Besides, we’d get to talking more the longer he worked at the agency, and this case was going to be a great place to start. I would probably be fine.

It took a few minutes, but our client finally arrived on the other side of the glass. He looked up at us with a frown. “I don’t believe we’ve met before,” he remarked.

“I’m Lily Shield, and this is  Cormous Arme . We’re from  Morix  Law Offices. We heard about your case on the news, and we were thinking we could represent you in court if you still needed an attorney for the trial,” I explained, pulling up a chair from where it was sitting up against the nearby wall.

“ Morix  Law Offices?” the man asked in shock. “Did your company happen to defend a woman named Felicity two years ago?”

I nodded. “We did, as a matter of fact. Well, my boss did, at the very least,” I answered with a small smile.

The man hesitated before nodding. “Alright. I’m Sky Amaya. I’d like it if you wanted to defend me, yes,” he told us. “Where should we start? What do you want to hear about the case?”

“Honestly, anything would be helpful at this point,”  Cormous  told him with a shrug. “All we know is that the crime took place at a wildlife sanctuary. Also, the victim apparently died from an arrow wound.”

“That much is true. I was there with my sister, Felicity, and another attorney from our agency. We were sent to investigate some tax fraud issues taking place at the sanctuary. I stepped away from the group briefly to take a phone call, but when I came back, Felicity was unconscious, and our coworker was dead. I was arrested for the crime since I didn’t have an alibi. Felicity apparently didn’t see her attacker since the assault came from behind,” Mr. Amaya explained.

“That’s awful...” I murmured with a shake of my head. I found it odd that his sister, Felicity, was working at Blocker Law now.  Last  I had heard, she hadn’t been hired, which was the motive from when she was the defendant charged with killing the former owner of the agency. Perhaps the new owner had taken her on after his death. I couldn’t say for sure until I asked her later on, as I got the  feeling  we would inevitably be speaking about the crime.

“What was the phone call about?”  Cormous  asked.

“It wound up being spam. I was expecting a call from a prosecutor regarding a case I’m set to take on in a few days, and I thought it was him,” Mr. Amaya replied. 

“And this phone call was why you were suspected... Hm. That’s strange, to say the least,” I frowned.

“What makes you say that?” Cormous questioned.

“Think about it. If anybody wanted to frame him for murder, they would need something conclusive to get him away from the crime scene. A spam call seems like too much of a coincidence, and I highly doubt the real killer would have wanted to rely on luck,” I explained.

“You seem pretty sure that he’s innocent,” Cormous commented.

“ Of course  I have faith in him. At  Morix  Law Offices, we always trust in our clients, and I believe Mr. Amaya with everything I have when he says he’s innocent. It’s as simple as that,” I answered.

“My name was written in blood at the scene of the crime, if that means anything,” Mr. Amaya cut in. “There is something odd about that though... When I was first arrested, I didn’t see anything of the sort at the scene of the crime. In fact, there were no signs that anything had been written. I didn’t see any blood aside from that on the victim... I don’t know when the writing was done, but it must have been after I saw the crime scene.”

“What happened when you saw the crime scene?” I asked.

“I came back after taking care of the phone call to see the murder victim, Lee Gale, on the ground with an arrow in her neck. I panicked and let out a cry of shock. I also saw my sister, Felicity, unconscious. She was next to a large, sharp rock, which had some blood on it. I was detained by the owner of the preserve, though I can’t remember his name. I'm sure it will come up in the investigation. We were supposed to talk to him about the tax fraud allegations, though his name has slipped my mind for the time being,” Mr. Amaya told us.

“Where did the tax fraud tip come from?”  Cormous  questioned. “You must have gotten that information from somewhere, but who told you the nature reserve was suspicious?”

Mr. Amaya hesitated before frowning. “I don’t have the letter on me anymore, I’m afraid. It was taken when I was arrested by the owner of the preserve. It was a letter sent to my law agency talking about the preserve falsifying tax-based documents. This is going to sound hard to believe, but it was sent by the Oracle of the Law,” he explained.

I gasped. Of all the explanations I had anticipated, that was nowhere near what I had expected.

I had been brought into the Oracle project during the infamous Interpol case. Deirdre, Yuri, and I had deduced the truth behind Oracle’s identity, so we were pulled into the Oracle company as a result. I still didn’t have much power among the group, as everybody else who knew the truth had been involved for longer and knew more about the  project as a whole, but  I didn’t mind. Even if I was lower on the tier list, I still knew more than most about Oracle, so I had expected to have heard about something like this prior to it taking place.

“That’s... Wow,”  Cormous  said in shock. He still wasn’t aware of the truth, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. I didn’t have the right. I would have to get Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis’ permission first, and even so, they would probably explain it to him instead. For now, we were just going to have to keep him in the dark.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. You should be able to ask the preserve owner about the letter. He seized it and the other evidence I had on hand when he arrested me. If he doesn’t have it, the police officers and detectives in charge of the case should have an explanation for where it went. He could have handed it over to them when they arrived at the scene. I can’t say for sure,” Mr. Amaya said.

“Thank you for talking to us, Mr. Amaya. I can’t say if we’ll be able to talk to you again before the trial, but we do appreciate hearing your words about the case,” I smiled, bowing my head in his direction slightly.

“I’m glad you’re willing to defend me,” Mr. Amaya told us. “The crime took place at the  Blackgate  Wildlife Preserve. If you say you’re my lawyers, you should be able to get in pretty easily. It’s open to the public for the most part, though I’d assume that it’s closed down for the sake of the murder investigation.”

“We’ll head on over there now,” I said. “Just in case we don’t see you again today, have a nice day!”

“Thanks,” Mr. Amaya grinned, waving as we left behind the detention center to go to the wildlife preserve. 

Once we were outside,  Cormous  turned to look at me with a frown. “You seem positive that he’s innocent... I don’t understand how you do it. What if he committed the crime? What if you were defending a criminal?” he asked.

“I have faith in him. He believes in me, and I believe in him. It’s part of the way we function at  Morix  Law Offices,” I replied with a small shrug. “We shouldn’t waste time talking about our life philosophies though. The crime scene awaits. Mr. Amaya is counting on us, and I’m not going to let him down now!”

Cormous  nodded in response. I could tell he was still unsure of if I was making the right choice, but I couldn’t linger on it. We had other things to take care of.

** March 3 **

** Blackgate Wildlife Preserve **

** 1:15 PM **

** Lily Shield **

Once we got to the preserve, it was easy to find the crime scene, as most of the police officers were coming to and from it. I glanced around the area once we had arrived, which is when I caught sight of a familiar face.

“Detective Wattson!” I exclaimed, walking in her direction. If she was the lead detective on the case, we were going to be in luck. I was sure she would be able to help us by giving out the autopsy report, which was always good.

“You must be the attorney on this case,” Detective Wattson said with a small smile. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is  Cormous  Arme. He’s a new attorney working at the agency,” I answered. “We’re defending the suspect in this case together.”

“I assume you’ll be wanting to talk about the incident then,” Detective Wattson frowned. “There were two victims, Lee Gale and Felicity Amaya. Gale was murdered while Amaya was merely assaulted. Here are the medical reports from the case.”

She handed over a file, and I opened it up to see what was on the first page. I learned soon after it was the murder victim’s page.

“She was shot in the neck with an arrow and died instantly,” Cormous murmured. “What about the assault victim?”

I switched out the pages, allowing us to look at the file on Ms. Amaya. Once again,  Cormous  read it aloud. “She was hit in the head by a blunt object and fell unconscious immediately,” he said softly. 

“Would we be able to talk to the witness at all?” I questioned.

“As a matter of fact, yes. She’s here at the crime scene if you want to see her. She’s currently resting a small distance away. She was left with a wicked headache after the assault, you see,” Detective Wattson replied.

“Is there anything else you believe we should know about the crime?”  Cormous  asked. 

“If you spoke with the defendant, you’ve surely heard that he was arrested by the owner of the preserve. His name is Lou Hernan. He’s being questioned by the police at the moment, so it’s going to be a while before you can talk to him, I’m afraid,” Detective Wattson frowned.

“That’s alright. We can investigate the crime scene for the time being,” I assured her with a small smile.

“In that case, I’ll leave you to it. I have a few other things to take care of with the prosecution. Your brother is the one leading this case, love,” Detective Wattson told me, a small smile pulling at her face. “He’s being helped out by one Niamh Wood. They’re just starting this investigation now as well, though they’ve finished with the crime scene. If you need me, feel free to come and ask for something. Until then, I’ll be seeing you later.”

Detective Wattson walked away, and I waved as she disappeared from sight. I turned to look at the crime scene, pulling out my phone to take a few pictures of the murder scene. “I’ll try and get these developed if I get the chance before the trial tomorrow,” I explained to Cormous.

Overall, the crime scene was somewhat plain. The murder victim, a woman with short brown hair, was spread out on the ground with blood surrounding her neck. An arrow was sticking out of it. Blood stained the grass, though it had dried since the murder had taken place. In large, bloody letters, ‘SKY’ was written in the green, though the letters were thick and had taken much blood due to the nature of the surface being written on. If not for the bright red color of the blood, I never would have noticed the letters to begin with.

Nearby, there was a rock just like the one described by Mr. Amaya. Surely enough, it did have a sharp edge stained with blood. It had also dried out. The rock was noticeably clean, which I found odd. All the other rocks in the area seemed to be covered in moss or other greenery. It felt a bit too convenient, but then again,  it  was probably intended to be that way. After all, it wasn’t difficult to see the contradictions already staring us in the face regarding falsified evidence in this case.

There was a tape outline on the grass a few feet away from the bloody rock. It was of a figure roughly the same size as the victim sprawled out on the ground just as she was. A small amount of blood stained the head area. 

“I don’t see anything of note,” frowned Cormous.

“I don’t see anything like a crucial piece of evidence with what we have now, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything of that nature here. Sometimes, the unexpected takes place in these cases. That’s something you learn pretty early on, trust me,” I told him with a small hint of a smile.

“You look like you’ve already figured something out about the case,” Cormous commented, coming in close to whisper to me.

I shrugged. “I suppose you could say something like that. There are a few issues with the facts proposed at the crime scene when you compare it to the facts listed in the medical files. I don’t want to bring them up yet though. We can use them against the prosecution tomorrow when the trial comes around,” I told him. “Court is a cutthroat place. Sometimes, you need to keep a few facts quiet to surprise the opposition with them. It’ll help you win points with the judge.”

“Come on, please tell me,”  Cormous  begged. “I won’t be able to help you find an explanation for them if you don’t tell me. It wouldn’t help anybody out if you found a contradiction but couldn’t explain it, right? I can help you find a way to patch up the  holes, but  I can’t do that unless you explain it to me. Please?”

I sighed and shook my head, already understanding well I wouldn’t be able to get much of anywhere if he was being like this. “Alright, alright. I’ll tell you. Will that get you to calm down a little?” I asked with a frown. 

Cormous smiled and winked, as if this had been his plan all along. “You bet,” he answered.

“Alright then. I guess it wouldn’t hurt... The medical report of the victim, the murder victim, so I guess that makes it an autopsy report, says that she died instantly. She was shot in the neck and died right away. However, if she died instantly, she couldn’t have written the defendant’s name in blood. The only reason I could think of for blood writing would be to frame someone, and if we prove that the victim didn’t write it, the prosecution can’t say it was the victim trying to catch her killer,” I explained.

“And there isn’t any way they can come back from that. Smart idea,” Cormous nodded.

“As for the other victim, Ms. Amaya, she was hit on the back of the head by a blunt object. That’s what the medical report says. However, the rock found with blood on it at the scene of the crime is sharp. It would have left more of a cut wound rather than blunt force trauma. The rock was not the weapon used to hit her because of this. We need to find out what the actual weapon was, as it could help us prove who committed the crime,” I went on.

“It sounds like we should go and ask her about the attack. She probably knows more about it than the police officers on the case since she was the victim and all,” Cormous suggested.

“I agree there. Detective Wattson said that she would probably be a short walk away from her. The police wanted to give her peace to help with her headache. Plus, it probably wouldn’t be very helpful to have her stumbling around the crime scene in that state,” I answered. “I don’t know where exactly she is, but with a little bit of searching, we should find her soon enough.”

“Find who soon enough?”

I turned upon hearing the voice. I saw a woman standing behind me with purple hair. She looked exhausted, as if she hadn’t slept in ages. She looked  Cormous  and me up and down before looking at my attorney’s badge. “You must be defending Sky,” she commented.

“We are,” I confirmed. I already had a suspicion of who she was, but I was going to wait for her to say something about her identity so as not to look like a fool.

“Good,” the woman said, a small smile appearing on her face. “I’m Felicity Amaya. It’s nice to meet you.”

I grinned to myself and extended one arm for a handshake. “I’m Lily,” I said simply, keeping quiet about how she was our golden ticket to the truth. After all, she would probably figure such out soon enough anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As is tradition, we get new lawyers in case two. Meet Victoria and Cormous. Cormous is new to QATH. Victoria, on the other hand, I've written before, but she's around in the second book rather than the sixth.
> 
> I don't have much else to say. I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> -Digital


	7. Turnabout Wilds, Part 2

**March 3**  

 **Blackgate** **Wildlife Preserve**  

 **1:30 PM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

“What can you tell us about the time of the crime?” I started off by asking. “We’ll need that information to defend your brother in court.” 

“Um... Sure, I guess,” Ms. Amaya shrugged. “I came here to talk to a member of the wildlife preserve with my brother and the victim. Lee, Sky, and I all work at Blocker Law Offices. We got a letter a short time ago saying that somebody at the nature preserve was falsifying information on tax papers. Being part of the legal system, we were given the job of tracking down whoever was responsible. That was when the incident took place... It’s... Not good, to put it simply.” 

“Give us as many details as you possibly can,” I pressed. “We’ll need all the information we can get if we’re going to prove his innocence.” 

“Okay, I’m on it. We were heading towards the main area of the preserve where the head office is found. You see, we thought the owner of the preserve would be able to tell us about where the tax issues had come from,” Ms. Amaya explained. “We were about halfway there when the murder took place. At least, that’s my estimate. I’m guessing based off the maps placed in a few places around the preserve.” 

“How far away do you think it would be if you walked? How long would it take to get there from the scene of the murder?” I questioned. 

“Um... I think ten minutes,” Ms. Amaya answered. “That should be about right. The preserve is a lot bigger than you’d expect, and only staff members can use the golf carts scattered about to move faster. We probably would have taken one and used it to get there faster, but we unfortunately aren’t allowed to. It would have made things go much smoother, that’s for sure.” 

“Should I make a note of that?” Cormous asked of me, looking over in my direction. 

I nodded. “Of course,” I replied. “We’re probably going to need that information in court.” 

“Should I keep going?” Ms. Amaya questioned.  

“Yes, please continue,” I told her firmly.  

“Sky walked away for a brief period of time to take a phone call. He was expecting something from a prosecutor involving an upcoming trial,” Ms. Amaya continued.  

“That’s exactly what he told us,” I murmured.  

“He was gone for a while, or at least, it felt like a while. It probably wasn’t too long. We stopped for a moment to let him take the call, but that was when the crime took place... An arrow flew out of nowhere and hit Lee in the neck,” Ms. Amaya frowned. “I screamed in shock and got down next to her to shake her and see if she was okay. I realized she was dead and didn’t have a pulse. While I was leaning over her body, somebody came up behind me and hit me in the back of the head. I think I fell unconscious after that.” 

“Would you be able to describe the wound you received at the time of the crime?” I asked. Cormous shot me a small smirk, obviously having caught on to the game I was playing at. It was only going to help our case if she gave the response I expected to receive.  

“I don’t really know if this is going to be relevant, but sure,” Ms. Amaya shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll be able to describe it well since I kind of fell unconscious directly afterwards, but I’ll give it a shot. It didn’t feel sharp. I think I was hit with a flat surface, though it didn’t feel entirely flat... I can’t really describe it... It was mostly flat, and I think it was thin and long. I think it must have been a few inches wide, but anything more would be out of the question based on what I remember feeling.” 

“Somewhat flat... Do you think it was spherical or something then?” Cormous suggested. 

“No, not spherical... It was somewhat circular... Think of a cylinder. That sounds about right... Yeah. Like a cylinder full of chips. Think that size, but heavier and thicker. Do you think you’d be able to find something of that nature?” Ms. Amaya asked. 

“We’ll do our best. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have found something by the time the trial starts up tomorrow. It’s a good place to start in proving your brother’s innocence,” I assured her. 

Ms. Amaya smiled. “Thanks... It’s time for me to do you a favor of my own. I haven’t been feeling like myself because of this headache... But tomorrow, I should be feeling better. Then, I can give you one of my famous nicknames, courtesy of the one and only Felicity! Only the best for the people defending my brother!” she chirped.  

“Nicknames?” I echoed.  

“Yes! Hm... Names, please. Repeat them,” Ms. Amaya instructed.  

“Um... Lily Shield and Cormous Arme,” I replied, unsure of where she was going with this.  

“Good! Those are easy to make nicknames for! From this point forward, you’ll be known as Lil-Bil and Cormie!” Ms. Amaya exclaimed. She seemed to have perked up considerably compared to a few minutes before. “Even with this headache, I’m still at the top of my nickname game!” 

“Um... I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing,” Cormous said with a frown. 

“Is there anything else you wanted to ask me, Lil-Bil?” Ms. Amaya questioned. 

“I don’t think so. I take it you’ll be testifying tomorrow, yes?” I questioned.  

“Yeah. Speaking of, I should probably go and talk more with the prosecution... The leader seems grouchy, and I don’t want to get on his bad side,” Ms. Amaya told us. “Don’t worry though. I’m on your side here. I don’t want him to be found guilty of murder.” 

“I’m happy to hear we have an ally. And don’t be scared of Robbie. He’s not really that scary,” I smiled.  

“Robbie... That’s a perfect nickname. I guess I should go see him and officially put it in place. See you later!” Ms. Amaya exclaimed before leaving.  

“She’s perked up considerably,” Cormous remarked.  

“You’re right. If I had to guess, I’d say she was feeling drained after being attacked, but talking about nicknames cheered her up... It’s an odd hobby, but I guess that whatever works is fine,” I shrugged.  

“You’re probably right on that... Where should we head to next?” Cormous asked.  

“I want to speak with the owner of the preserve. Mr. Amaya said that he would probably have the papers related to the case. Plus, he should have the letter written by Oracle about what happened with the tax fraud case,” I pointed out. 

“Oracle... I didn’t expect to hear more about them after what happened back in that kidnapping incident. I halfway expected them to crawl under a rock and stay there permanently,” Cormous frowned. 

“What makes you say that?” I asked with a frown. I was trying to be careful with my words here. I didn’t know his thoughts on the subject, and for all I knew, it would end badly, which was the last thing I needed. It would be a recipe for disaster if I stopped getting along with him the day that he first appeared at the agency. 

“Oracle is not a person to look up to. Oracle is a criminal. It’s that simple,” Cormous said firmly. “I thought we’d finally be able to ignore them after that case last year, but they can’t stay away from the legal system, huh?” 

“Yeah... I guess I can see where you’re coming from,” I muttered, hoping my tone wouldn’t betray how I really felt. I made a mental note to tell Mr. Morix to avoid talking about Oracle with Cormous. Chrysalis would probably need to know that as well... Then again, I highly doubted they would be explaining the truth about Oracle to Cormous before they had gotten close enough to trust him, and by then they surely would have heard of his negative thoughts involving the spy. 

“That’s enough of that though. We have other business to take care of at the time being. We should try and find the office of the preserve owner,” Cormous cut in. 

I nodded. “Yes, you’re right. I really wish we had asked Ms. Amaya about the direction we were supposed to go in to find it,” I sighed with a shake of my head. “Hopefully there will be a sign around here that points us in the right direction...” 

Cormous glanced around for a moment before finding what we were looking for. “There we are,” he smiled. “It looks like it’s down a nearby trail in the employee area. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get there relatively quickly. Let’s get going.” 

“Sounds good,” I agreed, heading in the direction of the trail. After hearing his thoughts on Oracle, I wasn’t sure of how to start a conversation with him, so I stayed quiet instead.  

We had been walking for a few minutes when Cormous spoke up. “So... Are you single?” he asked with a small smirk. 

I turned to look at him with a glare. “Yes, but it’s none of your business. Leave me be, okay?” I said harshly. I had been trying to make friends with him, but his repeated flirtatious behavior was starting to get on my nerves. 

“What about the other people of your agency?” he questioned persistently. 

“Deirdre doesn’t want a relationship at the moment. Victoria... She already said she was in a relationship. Mr. Morix is with somebody, and as far as I’m aware, they’re living together, so that’s a big no, assuming you even swing that way. Chrysalis is too young for you. Yuri is also too young for you. In conclusion, leave us alone,” I declared. I had made this into an argument without even trying. I suppose you can’t really blame me. Being a lawyer for so long does that stuff to you. 

“Alright, alright. I understand when I’m not wanted,” Cormous sighed with a shake of his head. “Okay, I get it. Don’t get so snippy with me.” 

“You’re really not making a good first impression,” I muttered under my breath, hoping he didn’t hear. I didn’t know how I felt about Cormous at the moment, but my opinion was already starting to go in a negative direction, and given that it was the first day, that wasn’t good. 

“First impressions are overrated. Even with a bad first impression, you can still learn to get along with people over time. It’s fine,” Cormous shrugged. 

I let out a sigh and shook my head. Thankfully, the preserve’s main office was now in view. I let out a sigh of relief and started dashing towards it out of both curiosity and a burning desire to escape Cormous and his desperate flirts.  

The head office had nobody around it, much to my surprise. Nobody had been guarding the employee area, which was fine with me. It certainly made our jobs easier, as we didn’t have to insistently convince a police officer that we were supposed to be there.  

The head office was a small building shaped like a plain rectangle. It was made of bricks that had become worn and dark after having stood the test of time. The door was simple and dark, standing out against the bricks. 

“It’s open,” Cormous commented, approaching the door to push it open. He was slow to push it open, careful that somebody might be inside, but when he realized nobody was in there, he went in full speed and look around at the building’s contents. 

The building’s inside consisted of one large room and a hallway that led off to a smaller area I assumed was the bathroom. There was a bench pressed up against the wall beside the door. A wooden desk sat at the opposite end of the room. Behind it, there was a moose head hanging on the wall above a bow and arrow on full display. I felt myself shivering as I stared at the moose. Why the hell did a nature preserve owner have a dead moose on the wall? It seemed a bit odd considering his position. 

“He’s not here,” Cormous frowned. “Let’s look around. There has to be something around here we can use as evidence.” 

“We can’t go looking through somebody’s belongings without permission!” I hissed. “That’s against the law, you know!” 

“Still, I highly doubt he would bother to give us the papers if we asked for them. For crying out loud, he must have taken them for a reason. Maybe he was trying to sweep something under the rug. His head is on the line if something bad happens to the preserve. We need that evidence, and if we don’t think he’ll give it to us, we should just take it for ourselves,” Cormous said firmly. 

“We can’t just—” I said angrily, reaching out for his arm. 

Cormous walked across the room briskly and picked something up off the desk. It was a black box with a small button on the side. He frowned and hit the button, making sound come from a small speaker.  

“Do you owe money from your time in college? We have a solution! Call the following phone number to hear about our solution to forgiven college debt! We can help you get rid of that debt once and for all!” 

“Sounds like a spam call,” Cormous muttered, shaking his head. “Should we take it?” 

“No, we can’t,” I told him with a frown. 

However, I remembered what Mr. Amaya had told us about the phone call he had taken. It had been from a spam number, and this most certainly sounded like a spam call. What if it was the same one he had heard at the time of the crime? 

“You’re thinking what I am,” Cormous said. “Come on. Let’s just take it already.” 

I was hesitant, but I reached out and took the small box anyways. “We’re keeping this on the down low until we absolutely need it,” I told him sternly. “Now that we’ve taken this, we can’t afford to look at anything else. We should just leave and wait outside until he comes back. I don’t want to get in trouble with the law because you got curious and started looking through things you shouldn’t have.” 

Cormous ignored my warnings and went behind the desk. He pulled a drawer open and began to sift through the papers inside. “Hey... These are branded with the logo of Blocker Law,” he murmured. “Do you know what this means?” 

“These must be the papers the preserve owner took from Mr. Amaya when he was arrested,” I realized. “The letter is sure to be in here. While this goes against my moral compass, I think we have to do look through this drawer to retrieve the letter.” 

“Finally, you’re seeing things my way,” Cormous smirked. He pulled out a small stack of papers and began to go through it. “Hey... There are three copies of the same papers on here. They’re all stamped with the logo of Blocker Law, but the name is different on them all. One says Lee Gale, one says Felicity Amaya, and the last says Sky Amaya.” 

“These must be the files on the tax fraud issue,” I concluded. “All three of them would have copies of the necessary information... But why would it be here in the office of the preserve owner? The crime took place ten minutes away, and I haven’t heard anything about him coming to the scene of the crime. It sounds like we’ve got yet another contradiction on our hands.” 

“The files could have been seized before the police arrived at the scene of the crime. After all, he was the one who found the defendant standing with the body and the assault victim. Maybe he took the files at that point in time. I don’t know what his motivation would be, but it’s something we might want to ask him about before we go into court,” Cormous said.  

I shook my head. “No, that’s an awful idea. This evidence is starting to point to him as a suspect. Criminals grow violent when somebody calls them out. It’s a basic rule of being a lawyer. You need to keep it hidden. Until we get to court, we tell nobody about this, alright?” I asked.  

Cormous nodded, though I could tell he was somewhat shocked about my persistence regarding keeping it secret. “Okay. I understand. Is there anything else I should know about our strategy for the courtroom?” he asked. 

“You’ll see how it is when we finally arrive in the courtroom. I can’t think of anything in particular. Anyways, let’s see if we can find that letter,” I said.  

“Should we keep the papers with us? Do we want to leave them here or bring them along?” Cormous questioned.  

“We take them. I’m not exactly fond of the idea, but I don’t think we have much of a choice in the matter. If he asked, we can tell him we know nothing. It’s times like these I’m glad that I keep my bag with me at all times. It makes hiding things like this much easier, you know,” I told him. I took the stack of papers from his hands to drop them into my shoulder bag. “The letter is probably in here, but I’m hesitant to look for it now. After all, if he walks in, he’ll know we’re the ones who took the file. He’ll throw a fit if he learns that, but if he thinks it’s the police, he’ll probably be more relaxed, if that makes any sense. There’s kind of a negative image surrounding lawyers under this legal system, if you can’t already tell, though at this point, it feels as obvious as can be.” 

Cormous suddenly gasped in shock. “I think I just heard a voice from outside. We should try to leave and say we were looking for the officer normally in here,” he hissed at me.  

I nodded in response and tucked everything from the bag deeper into the fabric, if that was at all possible. He took my wrist and dragged me towards the door. If we weren’t under any pressure, he probably would have given me a flirtatious grin to go on top, but he seemed to be able to sense the mood, knowing it was a bad idea. 

Once we arrived outside, we saw that somebody had indeed arrived. It was a man with brown hair in a professional black suit. He was frowning deeply as he looked at Cormous and I. His eyes were a dark blue color, I noticed. “Who are you supposed to be?” he asked harshly.  

“My name is Lily Shield, and this is Cormous Arme,” I said quickly. “We’re the lawyers defending Mr. Amaya in the murder case.” 

The man frowned and shrugged. “Alright, I suppose... Name’s Lou Hernan. I’m the owner of this nature preserve. Now, answer me this. Why were you in my office?” he demanded. 

Cormous was the one to jump in to answer him quickly this time. “We heard from some of the police officers on the case that you would be in here. We decided to follow their advice and come to look for you, but you weren’t inside. We just arrived here ourselves,” he explained.  

Mr. Hernan didn’t seem to be exactly satisfied with this answer, but he didn’t comment on it. “How did you even get into the office?” he questioned. 

“What do you mean? The door was open,” I answered.  

“The door requires a fingerprint on a panel beside the door to open. Only a few specific people are allowed in without my permission,” Mr. Hernan replied.  

“We had no idea,” Cormous frowned. “The door was cracked when we got here, so perhaps the last one out just forgot to shut it. I don’t know why it was open, I’m afraid.” 

Once again, Mr. Hernan didn’t like that explanation, but once again, he was silent. He shook his head and looked up at us, sticking his hands in his pockets. “What is it you want from me? Do you want to ask about the case or something?” he questioned. 

I nodded. “As a matter of fact, yes. We wanted to know about your actions at the time of the murder, if that’s alright,” I told him. 

“I was sitting in the office, plain and simple. I heard something and left this office to see what was going on. That was when I found the defendant standing over the body in shock. I handcuffed him, thinking he was undoubtedly the culprit. As an official working closely with the law, the police naturally trusted me enough to believe me when I said I suspected him,” Mr. Hernan explained. 

“Why do you work closely with the law, as you put it?” Cormous questioned.  

“You see, this here preserve is considered a type of national park. It has park rangers assigned by the law and government as a result. As their boss, I know many officials in the police department, plain and simple. When I said I had seen him standing above the body and thought he did it, they believed me. Because of that, he was taken into custody as a suspect for the murder,” Mr. Hernan answered.  

“What caused you to suspect Mr. Amaya to begin with?” I asked next.  

“He was standing over a dead body and an unconscious woman. What would you think if you saw a scene like that? Wouldn’t you be suspicious of whoever pulled something like that off?” Mr. Hernan asked impatiently. “The reasoning seems clear to me.” 

I nodded to myself. “Alright, I think I understand... Is there anything else you did at the time?”  

“No. I had him arrested and turned him over to the police. I didn’t do anything else,” Mr. Hernan replied. 

A series of chains and locks came into sight around him. A gasp left my lips. He couldn’t lie to me. There were two locks, which meant this would be easy to worm out of him.  

“What?” Cormous asked of me quietly. 

I ignored him and looked to Mr. Hernan. “We heard from someone else that you had taken a few files off the defendant when you took him into custody,” I said.  

“Who told you that?” Mr. Hernan questioned.  

“It was the defendant himself. He explained that you had taken the papers regarding his investigation into the nature preserve when we spoke to him in the detention center,” I replied.  

One of the locks splintered into nonexistence. “What? I didn’t take the papers,” Mr. Hernan said firmly. 

“I’m sure it would be easy to figure out if you took them or not. After all, the only people who could possibly have the papers would be the police and the defendant. If we asked a detective on the case, they could tell us if the police got such a thing off the defendant’s person or if they let him keep the files,” I reminded him. “It wouldn’t be difficult to see where the files are currently located with some good old-fashioned questioning of the people involved in the case.” 

Mr. Hernan glared at me intensely as the second lock broke. “I don’t need to be here talking to you,” he suddenly barked. “I have better things to be doing than talking to a couple of kids who don’t know how to keep their noses out of things. Now, leave the area immediately. I won’t tolerate your questioning any longer, so get lost before I force you to.” 

I looked to Cormous before nodding. “Alright. We will. Thank you for your time, sir,” I told Mr. Hernan before turning on my heel and walking away, Cormous a few feet behind me.  

We waited until we were out of earshot and the door to the office had been shut before starting to speak. “I think I’m glad I went against my moral compass for today,” I admitted with a shake of my head. Cormous had been right in assuming that Mr. Hernan wouldn’t be willing to tell us about the files from his desk. Normally, I would have been against it, but Cormous had been right. Perhaps he wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought him to be, though I couldn’t say for sure yet given my conflicting thoughts of his behavior. 

“What are we going to do about him now? He doesn’t want to talk to us anymore, but we’re going to need more information from him if we want to have any hope of winning the trial tomorrow,” Cormous frowned. “It seems to me like we’re pretty deep in a hole at this point.” 

“I think we’re going to be fine. I have a plan, though we’ll need to find Detective Wattson in order for it to work. I need to ask her for a favor. I noticed something odd about that office, something that fills the description of the weapon used against Ms. Amaya,” I told him.  

“Really? I was too focused on the files and recording to notice anything that could have been a weapon. I guess you win today in the observation department,” Cormous remarked with something of a smile. “Perhaps we should celebrate this victory with a kiss.” 

“I think we should celebrate this victory by talking to Detective Wattson about the favor I need of her,” I sighed, taking a small step away from him. “We don’t know positively if it’ll work yet. We need to make sure before getting excited.” 

“Alright, alright. I suppose you make a point,” Cormous muttered unhappily with a shake of his head. “Do you think she’ll be back at the crime scene now?” 

“I don’t know. I can’t be sure she’s finished talking to the prosecution, but either way, I think it’ll be alright. She’ll be at the courthouse tomorrow to drop off Mr. Amaya. It’s part of her job as the lead detective on the case. We can always ask for her help then, as after she testifies, she’ll be heading back here to the crime scene to see if any new evidence surfaces,” I pointed out. 

“Sounds good to me,” Cormous said. “Would you mind telling me about your plan?” 

“I want you to figure it out for yourself,” I smirked. “You’ll never learn anything if I’m feeding you the answers all the time.” 

“What? No fair,” Cormous pouted. “Why can’t you just tell me?” 

“I’m only teaching you the way Mr. Morix taught me. You wanted to become a part of this agency, so you’re going to have to suffer the same way all new employees do,” I shrugged. “If I had to put up with it, you do too. It’s only fair.” 

Cormous groaned as we started the walk back to the crime scene. He didn’t say anything else after that, so I got the feeling he could tell arguing with me was pointless. He knew he couldn’t win this, so he wasn’t going to waste his time. In my opinion, that was a smart decision on his part. 

We were silent the whole way back to the crime scene, and in the end, we were met with a murder scene that distinctly lacked Detective Wattson or any other investigator on the case.  

I let out a sigh and shook my head. “I guess that’s it for the day... There’s nothing else to look into, so we can go home now. I’ll see you at the trial tomorrow. Be at the courthouse before ten and be prepared to have a battle of wits. The prosecution won’t be holding back at all. It’s simply not in my brother’s nature, which doesn’t bode well for us, but the truth will prevail,” I told him. 

“You seem pretty sure that we’re going to find out what really happened at the time of the crime,” Cormous commented. “What if the truth escapes us? What will we do then?” 

“It’s simple, really. The truth won’t get away from us. We’re going to figure it out, and Mr. Amaya will be proven innocent. If we don’t doubt ourselves, we’ll be fine. Just have faith that we’ll be okay, and everything will turn out fine. Trust me,” I smiled. 

He still didn’t seem to believe me, but he didn’t ask about it anymore. We headed out of the preserve and for the car. I didn’t ask him about his thoughts on Oracle further either, as I knew that would be a bad idea. I would have to tell Mr. Morix about that little fact. Cormous wouldn’t be fond of Chrysalis if he found out, thought I got the feeling Chrysalis returned the sentiment of wishing to keep her distance. She had gotten much better in the mental health perspective since the Interpol case, but Cormous seemed to be able to revert her back to her previous state, which was anything but good. 

Cormous and I didn’t speak again for the rest of the day. I was glad to be spared from his flirts, but at the same time, I was a bit unsure of how he felt about me. It was awkward, to say the least. We were going to be working together a lot since he was now part of the agency, but we struggled to maintain a conversation without butting heads or him flirting, and neither of those options were positive. Even when we didn’t talk, the air was thick with awkward tension. It would certainly take a while to get used to, and I halfway wished I had been partnered up with Victoria, as she seemed much more social. 

But there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. All I had to do was press through this case, and then things would hopefully get better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very far ahead on this book. I might have a problem. This is chapter two, and chapter four is already finished for this case. Uh... Oops?
> 
> -Digital


	8. Turnabout Wilds, Part 3

** March 4 **

** Defendant Lobby No. 2 **

** 9:30 AM **

** Lily Shield **

I arrived in the defendant lobby a half hour before the trial was set to start. I glanced around, hoping that Mr. Amaya or Detective Wattson would be in view. I needed to talk to them both briefly before the trial. I couldn’t ask for the forensics test if Detective Wattson didn’t show up, and Mr. Amaya would probably want to hear an update on what we had learned about the case.

“Hey there, love.”

I smiled upon hearing Detective Wattson behind me. Mr. Amaya was at her side, looking exhausted. I couldn’t blame him, given how exhausting the detention center could be.

“Hey, Detective Wattson,” I said. “Can I ask you for something really quick?”

“Of course, love,” Detective Wattson answered with a nod. “Did you find something at the scene of the crime?”

“I think I might have found something, but I don’t think it’s the scene of the crime exactly,” I began. “You see, we got a little bit of time to look around inside the office of the preserve owner. We found a narrow, cylindrical object, which fits with the description Ms. Amaya gave us of the weapon used to hit her in the head. I was wondering if you could test the quiver hanging on the wall.”

Detective Wattson raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like you’ve learned something new about the case, pet,” she remarked, though she didn’t question my deductions. “I have to testify first today, but afterwards, I’ll be returning to the crime scene, so I can have the test done then. Does that sound alright?”

I nodded. “It sounds great. Thank you for this, Detective Wattson,” I smiled. 

“I have to go and talk to the prosecution before the trial begins. I’ll leave you to talk to Mr. Amaya while I go and see them,” Detective Wattson told us. “Good luck.”

“See you later,” I said with a wave as Detective Wattson left the room. I turned to look at Mr. Amaya next. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was ultimately cut off.

“So, she can call you love and pet, but I can’t?”

I sighed upon seeing  Cormous  a few feet away. “Hi,  Cormous ,” I murmured, doing my best to hide my disappointment. I had been hoping for somebody else from the agency, but my dreams were meant to be dashed, it seemed.

“What should we do now?”  Cormous  asked, ignoring my disappointed tone.

“I need to talk to Mr. Amaya,” I told Cormous. 

“I suppose I can go and see the other people of the agency,” Cormous said with a shrug. 

“They’re here?” I asked in shock.

“Of course,”  Cormous  replied. “I didn’t realize they were coming to see the trial either, but I saw them as I was walking in here earlier on. Deirdre, Victoria, Yuri, Chrysalis, and Mr.  Morix  were all standing together outside the lobby. You must have gotten here  pretty early  to not have noticed them.”

“I didn’t see them at all, no,” I frowned. “Give them my greeting, alright?”

Cormous  nodded and walked away, leaving me alone with Mr. Amaya. I turned to face him and let out a sigh. “Alright. Let’s get started. What do you want to hear about?” I asked.

“You must have learned something during the investigation yesterday, right?” Mr. Amaya questioned.

“I did, as a matter of fact. I can just start from the beginning, if that’s okay,” I told him.

Mr. Amaya nodded. “The beginning is the best place to start most of the time,” he said.

“Alright,” I nodded. “We went to the crime scene and saw the rock next to the victim’s body. We figured something out relating to it. I think we already have a few holes poked in the prosecution’s case, which is a positive. Don’t you worry one bit. We’ll have you out of the detention center in no time flat.”

“You seem pretty confident,” Mr. Amaya remarked.

“That’s my job,” I grinned. “It’s the job of an attorney to believe in their clients to the bitter end, and that’s just what I plan on doing. The truth will come out in a matter of time. Don’t you worry.”

“I’ll trust you if you’re so sure you know what you’re doing,” Mr. Amaya told me. “I’ve seen Mr.  Morix  in action, and if you’re one of his successors, you must have his skills in the courtroom. I have faith you’ll take care of things.”

I felt pink appear in my cheeks. “Aw... Thank you,” I smiled. “It’s all going to be great. You’ll be back home before you know it. Your sister believes in you, and so do I. With the work of us all involved in the case, everything will be back to normal soon.”

“I think we’ll probably have to head into the courtroom soon,” Mr. Amaya told me, casting a glance up to the clock. “You didn’t touch much on the investigation, but I believe you know what you’re doing... You’ve already found holes in the prosecution’s case, and the trial hasn’t even started. That’s usually a good sign.”

Sure enough, as if on cue, a voice pierced the air. “Defense! Defendant! Enter the courtroom now!” It didn’t sound like the regular bailiff I was used to on my cases, which was odd, but it probably didn’t matter anyways.

I turned to Mr. Amaya and smiled lightly. “I’ll see you after the trial. You’re going to be fine,” I assured him. 

“Thank you,” Mr. Amaya said with a short nod.

I waved to Mr. Amaya as I headed towards the courtroom. He went inside before me since I stopped beside the door to wait for  Cormous . It took him a moment or two to catch up with me, but once he did, we headed into the courtroom without a second of hesitation. He hadn’t said much of anything to me yet, and I couldn’t exactly tell if that was a good thing or not yet. Take it as you will.

** March 4 **

** Courtroom No. 2 **

** 10:00 AM **

** Lily Shield **

When we arrived in the courtroom, the first thing  Cormous  did was tap my shoulder and point to the judge. “Who’s that?” he hissed.

I looked up and realized I recognized the face. “Judge Eriko Frost. She’s been on a few of my cases in the past,” I explained softly. I looked over to the prosecution next. “And that’s Prosecutor Robbi—erm, Roberto Shield. He’s being accompanied by Prosecutor Niamh Wood.”

“Shield?”  Cormous  echoed, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your surname too?”

I nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact. He’s my older brother. Don’t make that think he’ll hold back on us though. He never gives up, to say the least,” I explained.

We were cut off when Judge Frost picked her gavel up and slammed it against the podium before her. “Court is now in session for the trial of Sky Amaya. Are the defense and prosecution ready?” she asked.

I didn’t even have to look at  Cormous  to have my answer ready. “The defense is ready, Your Honor,” I smiled.

“And the prosecution?” Judge Frost prompted.

“The prosecution is also ready,” Robbie nodded from the other side of the courtroom. Prosecutor Wood was shuffling through papers, a familiar and ultimately unsurprising thing for her to be doing. She had practically been obsessed with it during the Interpol case the year before, rarely looking up unless she was speaking or being spoken to. It seemed her confidence hadn’t risen much since those days.

“Prosecutor Shield, please begin with your opening statement,” Judge Frost told Robbie.

He nodded to himself before nudging Prosecutor Wood. “You should do it,” he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard from my position across the room. 

“Me?” Prosecutor Wood echoed, her face pale. When Robbie nodded in agreement, she shuffled through her papers once more to pull out a file. She began to read from it soon after. “Um... The crime took place at the local  Blackgate  Wildlife Preserve. The victim, Lee Gale, was there to investigate something alongside both the defendant and a witness, Sky Amaya and Felicity Amaya respectively.

“They were at the preserve to ask around about some tax fraud issues. Apparently, somebody at the preserve had been lying on official documents about the preserve where taxes were concerned. Their agency, Blocker Law, had gotten a letter from the Oracle of the Law stating something shady was going on behind the scenes.”

“Oracle is back?” Judge Frost asked. I wordlessly glanced up to where the rest of my coworkers were sitting. All of them had passive and unreadable expressions except for Victoria, who seemed more curious than nervous.

“Yes. They figured out that somebody at the preserve was committing tax fraud and told the agency about it. Sure enough, when some more investigating was done, the lawyers working there realized it was true. The victim, witness, and defendant were sent to ask around about it and potentially do some snooping, if you will,” Prosecutor Wood explained.

“I wonder why Oracle is involved with this,”  Cormous  muttered. I didn’t shoot him a glance, instead choosing to focus on the opening statement.

“The defendant walked away briefly, claiming he had a phone call to take. While he was gone, he had no alibi. This is when the victim was shot in the neck by an arrow. The bow used to fire the arrow has not been found. The witness, meanwhile, was hit on the back of the head by a rock. She fell unconscious and got a concussion from the impact,” Prosecutor Wood went on. “The defendant claimed to return to the scene at this point, where he was arrested by another witness, the preserve’s owner, Lou Hernan.”

“Do you have a motive in mind for why the defendant would kill the victim and attack the witness?” I asked, noticing how she had skipped over something so vital.

“Well... You see... We weren’t entirely sure at first. Nobody really has a grudge against the victim. She’s liked by nearly everybody she comes across. However, something was missing from the scene of the crime that should have been there. The files regarding the tax fraud case were nowhere to be found,” Prosecutor Wood explained. “The police have no idea where they are at the moment... The crime scene has been searched thoroughly, but no results have been found yet. The prosecution believes that the defendant killed the victim and attacked the assault victim to take their files on the case for some reason.”

“Good job, Niamh,” Robbie whispered to Prosecutor Wood. Her face flushed pink, and she began shuffling through papers once again. I didn’t understand how she could be so good at articulating her points but still be  more shaky and nervous  than a chihuahua with anxiety. 

“I have another question, if you don’t mind my asking,” I cut in. 

“Go ahead, Ms. Shield,” Robbie told me. As was usual when we went up against each other, he was using formal language instead of my name. I wasn’t surprised exactly, but it was an odd feeling regardless.

“Why would the defendant want to attack the witness? After all, she’s his sister. There’s no reason to hurt her, since as far as I can tell, the two bear no ill will towards one another,” I said with a frown. 

“That’s actually easy to explain,” Robbie announced. “For some reason, the victim was left dead while the witness was left alive. Before finding a suspect, this came off as odd to everyone investigating the case. However, since then, we have  come to the conclusion  that Ms. Amaya is alive because she’s so close with the defendant. Instead of killing her, he merely knocked her unconscious to keep her from speaking about the crime. It’s typical for people with head wounds to forget what happened shortly before receiving the blow. I think it was a way for him to cover for his crime while still avoiding turning to murder.”

“Why would he want to kill the victim then? He could have very easily knocked them both unconscious,” I pointed out. 

“It’s hard to knock two people unconscious at melee range. It would be much easier to shoot one down and hit the other in the head to induce unconsciousness,” Robbie explained. “In this case, it’s a matter of simple convenience.”

“I think it’s time to call the first witness to the stand,” Judge Frost cut in.

Robbie nodded. “Yes, of course. The prosecution calls Vera Wattson to the witness stand,” he announced.

A few seconds later, Detective Wattson appeared at the stand. I saw her shoot me a brief glance, and I was positive she was thinking about my request of her from earlier on. After all, Robbie had just explained that the witness had been hit by a rock, but I had claimed something completely different out in the lobby.

“Please state your name and occupation, witness,” Judge Frost instructed. 

“My name is Vera Wattson. I work as a homicide detective at the local precinct, but right now, I’m the lead detective on this case,” Detective Wattson replied.

“Please explain what is currently believed to have happened at the time of the murder in detail,” Judge Frost said.

Detective Wattson nodded. “I’ll get right on it, love,” she answered.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Murder of Lee Gale ~ **

_ -“The murder took place at the Blackgate Wildlife Preserve.” _

_ -“The victim, Lee Gale, was shot once in the neck with an arrow.” _

_ -“Writing was found near her body at the scene of the crime spelling out the defendant’s name.” _

_ -“The defendant has no alibi for the time of the crime, as he supposedly walked away to take a phone call.” _

_ -“Ms. Amaya, the witness, was also attacked, having been hit in the back of the head.” _

_ -“The victim died instantly while Ms. Amaya remained alive, but she’s unconscious and sustained a concussion.” _

I didn’t bother mincing words after the testimony had ended. “The defense would like to begin the cross-examination now,” I declared, looking up to Judge Frost.

She seemed somewhat surprised I had asked to start so quickly, but she didn’t comment. “Go right ahead, defense,” Judge Frost told me. 

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ The Murder of Lee Gale ~ **

_ -“The murder took place at the Blackgate Wildlife Preserve.” _

_ -“The victim, Lee Gale, was shot once in the neck with an arrow.” _

_ -“Writing was found near her body at the scene of the crime spelling out the defendant’s name.” _

_ -“The defendant has no alibi for the time of the crime, as he supposedly walked away to take a phone call.” _

_ -“Ms. Amaya, the witness, was also attacked, having been hit in the back of the head.” _

_ -“The victim died instantly while Ms. Amaya remained alive, but she’s unconscious and sustained a concussion.” _

“Objection!”

“I’m afraid there’s already a contradiction in your testimony, Detective Wattson,” I said with a small smirk.

“What do you mean?” Detective Wattson asked.

“Think about what you just said. You stated that the victim Lee Gale died instantly, but that writing was found next to her dead body stating the defendant’s name. If she died instantly, how could she have written the message in blood?” I questioned.

I heard chatter break out in the courtroom. A brief glance up to Mr.  Morix  and the other members of the agency showed they were smiling to themselves. Pride swelled in my chest at correctly finding the contradiction. 

“Good job, Lily,” Cormous smiled to me. “You seem to know what you’re doing.”

I had to resist the urge to make a crack about how he hadn’t believed in our client before, but now, I was proving my point that we had to believe in him. Before, he probably would have found this to be proof he did it, but I was proving him wrong. I hadn’t felt so happy about being right in long time, to say the least.

“Order in the court!” Judge Frost shouted. “Prosecution, how do you respond to this?”

“There’s an explanation for such an occurrence, I assure you,” Robbie announced. “Don’t go celebrating yet. I have an idea in mind that would easily explain why the writing in blood was found at the crime scene despite the instant death of the victim.”

“Then tell me,” I demanded, my eyes narrowing. If he had come in here with an explanation for such a thing ready, he must have known this was coming. I had to applaud him for being prepared, but I knew it didn’t fare well for the future of our case. 

“The writing in blood found at the crime scene was put there by the defendant. After all, he’s the only one who could have done it,” Robbie said. 

“Objection!”

“That doesn’t make any sense! Why would he write his own name in blood at the scene of the crime?” I asked. “That would make him look suspicious and increase his chances of being arrested for the murder!”

“However, we need to keep in mind that the defendant is a lawyer. He has taken on cases of this sort in the past. This argument is often used in similar cases where writing in blood is found. Lawyers often say their clients couldn’t have written it as a way of proving their innocence. He knows this. He could have done such a thing to keep himself from being suspected as a way of manipulating this common tactic,” Robbie suggested.

“Where’s your proof of that claim?” I asked intensely.

“Where’s your proof it didn’t happen that way?” Robbie questioned in response.

“He’s got you there,” Cormous frowned.

“The way I see it now, there isn’t a way for us to prove one way or the other,” I murmured. “I mean, if he was found at the crime scene with no blood on his hands, there’s an explanation for that... He could have wiped the blood off in the grass... Wait... No! That isn’t true!”

“What do you mean?” Cormous asked.

“Think about it. If somebody wrote in blood at the crime scene, they would have blood somewhere on their hand. From there, they’d need to get it off their hand by rubbing it off on something. There wasn’t any blood found on the defendant when he was arrested as far as I’m aware. Plus, there’s no streak in the grass to show it was rubbed off at the scene of the murder. If he wrote in the grass, then where’s the blood that would have been on his hand when he was arrested?” I wondered aloud. “It doesn’t add up.”

“He could have rubbed the blood off on another piece of fabric,” Robbie offered.

“If that’s the case, then where’s the fabric he supposedly rubbed it off on?” I questioned with a small smirk. “He was arrested almost immediately after coming back to the crime scene from his phone call. He wouldn’t have had time to dispose of it. It’s all pointing to his innocence. There was no fabric found with blood on it at the scene of the crime. There’s nothing he could have rubbed his hand off on. Without a way of getting rid of the blood, your theory holds no water!”

“Where is the fabric then? Who wrote the message in the grass and rubbed their hand free of the blood?” Robbie challenged.

“I propose a third party wrote it at the scene of the crime. From there, the third party found a way dispose of the fabric, and they got away with it since they weren’t spotted by the defendant or the second witness who arrested him at the scene,” I answered. “What do you have to say to that?”

“You don’t have any proof to make that the truth either. If you did have proof, you would have proposed it by now,” Robbie said with a small smirk. “You can’t make us believe that happened without evidence, and I doubt you have it. Unless you want to prove me wrong...”

I sighed and shook my head. “It’s true. I don’t have any proof to show something like that took place... But at the same time, you don’t have anything to prove that didn’t happen. We’re at something of a stalemate on the subject,” I admitted.

“In that case, I propose that we move on and talk about something else relating to the case. After all, if neither one of you have evidence to prove what happened, then we can’t continue arguing the topic. There would be no point when there are countless other subjects to think through relating to this case,” Judge Frost cut in with a frown.

I nodded. She had a bit of a point, as much as I hated to admit it. We were going to have to move on, though I wished we could take care of the subject sooner rather than later. We would have to get around to it eventually, but for now, something else would have to do as our topic of discussion.

“If we’re going to be moving on, the prosecution would like to call its next witness to the stand,” Robbie announced. 

“Go right ahead, prosecution,” Judge Frost nodded.

“I’ll be heading back to the crime scene to do a little more investigating, loves. I’ll be back if I find anything else,” Detective Wattson announced before stepping down and away from the witness stand. I got the feeling she was still confused about my request to have the quiver tested for blood, but something told me she would be doing it regardless, which was all I really needed.

“The prosecution calls Felicity Amaya to the witness stand!” Robbie exclaimed.

A few seconds later, Ms. Amaya appeared at the witness stand. She seemed to be doing much better than she had been the day before, which was a relief. Her current disposition seemed to match her attitude when talking about nicknames rather than discussing the crime. It was fine with me, as I liked a cheery witness much more than a dreary one.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Robbie told her.

“I’m Felicity Amaya. I work at Blocker Law as a lawyer,” Ms. Amaya replied. “Though right now, I guess I’m just the witness for this case...”

“Regardless of technicalities, we need you to testify about what you saw at the time of the crime,” Robbie said firmly.

Ms. Amaya nodded. “I’ll get right to it.”

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Time of the Murder ~ **

_ -“I came to the preserve the day of the crime to ask about the tax fraud allegations.” _

_ -“We were going to hit the office of the preserve’s owner first and go from there after gathering some information.” _

_ -“Sky walked away because his phone was buzzing. He thought it was an important call he needed to take.” _

_ -“While he was gone, an arrow shot through the air and hit Lee in the neck!” _

_ -“She keeled over, dead, right away. I checked for a pulse and found that out myself.” _

_ -“While I was kneeled beside her, somebody came up behind me and hit me with something.” _

_ -“The police are saying that it was the rock found beside me when they arrived at the scene of the murder.” _

“That sounds a lot like what we’ve heard about the crime so far,” Judge Frost commented.  Her eyes were closed in quiet contemplation.

“The summary of the crime has remained consistent no matter who we ask on the matter,” Robbie told her. “Of course, the one thing we’re lacking from this testimony is a suspect.”

“I don’t believe my brother would attack me or kill Lee. She was so nice. She got along with everyone. Why would he want to kill her after all she’s done for us? For crying out loud, she helped him convince our new boss to hire me at our law agency a year and a half ago,” Ms. Amaya said with a frown.

“Regardless of that, the fact remains that he’s a suspect in this case. We need to press on as we have up to this point,” Robbe insisted. “Defense, I think it’s time that you began your cross-examination.”

I nodded. “I’ll get right to it,” I assured him.

“It’s time to use that evidence you mentioned yesterday, right?” Cormous asked of me quietly.

“It is. If we get this right, it’ll point to a third party being the killer. From there, we wait for the forensics report and go wherever the trial takes us afterwards,” I replied.

“Sounds like you have this case in the bag,” Cormous commented.

I shrugged. “I guess you could say something like that,” I said, gesturing for Ms. Amaya to repeat her testimony once  more.

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination  ** ** ~ **

** ~ The Time of the Murder ~ **

_ -“I came to the preserve the day of the crime to ask about the tax fraud allegations.” _

_ -“We were going to hit the office of the preserve’s owner first and go from there after gathering some information.” _

_ -“Sky walked away because his phone was buzzing. He thought it was an important call he needed to take.” _

_ -“While he was gone, an arrow shot through the air and hit Lee in the neck!” _

_ -“She keeled over, dead, right away. I checked for a pulse and found that out myself.” _

_ -“While I was kneeled beside her, somebody came up behind me and hit me with something.” _

_ -“The police are saying that it was the rock found beside me when they arrived at the scene of the murder.” _

“Objection!” 

“Witness, I noticed something about the last line of your testimony... It contradicts what you told us yesterday about the weapon used against you,” I said with a small smirk.

“Contradiction?” Robbie asked, frowning. “Explain yourself.”

“When I spoke with the witness yesterday, she told me that she had been hit with an object that felt cylindrical rather than sharp,” I explained. “This contradicts what the police believe to be the weapon used against her.”

“Where’s your proof that’s an issue though?” Robbie questioned. “Evidence is everything in court, as I’m sure you’re aware. We can’t accept this as fact without something solid to back it up.”

“I can give you something solid, yes,” I nodded. “It’s right here in the assault report. When describing the wound inflicted upon the witness, the report says it was a blunt object.”

“What’s the difference between a blunt object or a sharp object?” Robbie asked. I could see sweat beading on his forehead. He was likely already aware of the difference, but he was trying to keep his failing case together as this contradiction kicked a hole through it.

“The type of wound they make is different. A blunt object would likely cause a concussion and a bump to form on the head where the impact was made,” I began. “A sharp object would create a cut on the head where the impact was made. Witness, would you do me a favor and point out your wound to the court?”

Ms. Amaya nodded. She turned around to show the back of her head, rubbing at an area at the base of her neck. “I think I was hit about here... Ah, here it is. There’s a bump at the middle of the back of my head. It’s bad enough to cause a killer migraine... Pun not intended, I swear,” she said before turning back to face us properly.

“As everyone here can see, she does not have a cut on the back of her head. It’s a bump,” I declared. “This is proof of the relevance of the object used to hit her. The rock was not the culprit in this case. If I had to guess, it was falsified by the culprit for some reason or another, as if they were trying to hide the truth about the real weapon used against her.”

“Why would the culprit try to hide it?” Judge Frost. 

“If the weapon was something incriminating, then they would want to hide the truth to keep the suspicion away from themselves. I heard from the witness that the object used to hit her was a blunt, cylindrical object. Think of a can of chips, but with thicker material,” I continued. “As of now, I can’t say for sure what the weapon used to hit the witness was, but I get the feeling it’s going to be vital in proving who committed the  crime.  The rock was falsified. That much is clear. All we need to do now is figure out what the actual weapon is and why the culprit decided to hide it in the first place.”

“You seem to know what the weapon is already,” Cormous frowned. “Why don’t you just tell them?”

“I know my brother well. You’ve probably noticed this, but he wants evidence above all else. If I don’t have concrete proof of what it is that was used to hit Ms. Amaya, he’ll turn the theory down. I already have Detective Wattson checking the suspected object for traces of blood down at the crime scene. If all goes according to plan, she’ll come back and tell us loud and clear what’s going on with the assault weapon,” I explained to him.

“In that case, I’ll put my faith in you. When we get the proof back, will I finally be allowed to know what the weapon is?” Cormous questioned.

I nodded. “Of course. For the time being, we’ll need to do something to stall the trial long enough for her to find the evidence we require. Hopefully, it won’t be too long,” I said.

“What do you want to do next, prosecution?” Judge Frost asked, snapping us out of our conversation.

I looked over to Robbie and frowned. I hoped he would be merciful and give us the time we needed, but there was no saying if that would happen or not yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so far ahead on this story it isn't even funny.
> 
> -Digital


	9. Turnabout Wilds, Part 4

** March 4 **

** Courtroom No. 2 **

** 10:45 AM **

** Lily Shield **

“Hm... What should we do next...? Let’s hear from our witness again,” Robbie announced, crossing his arms over his chest. “I believe she’ll be able to provide us with some quality information about something relating to the case. To be specific, I want to know about the files brought to the preserve the day of the crime.”

“The files?” I echoed with a frown. I didn’t understand at first why he would want to hear about them, but it dawned on me soon after. The police didn’t know where the files had gone, as they had been found in the desk of the preserve’s owner, and they hadn’t searched through there. If they had, the files would have been taken by the police, and yet, I had them on me now.

“Yes. The witness and defendant mentioned that the three in their group had brought files to the preserve, and yet, we have had no luck with locating them. I think it’s time for us to hear about where the witness thinks they might be. After all, if we want to find the truth behind them, we’ll need to find the files and look through them ourselves,” Robbie explained. 

“I think I can talk about the files, yes,” Ms. Amaya nodded. “I hope it helps...”

“Don’t worry about that now, witness. Just tell us about the files you brought to the preserve on the day of the murder,” Judge Frost told her.

“I’ll get right on it then,” Ms. Amaya said.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Files ~ **

_ -“I brought a few files with me to the crime scene the day of the murder.” _

_ -“They explained the details of the case. Included was the list of tax violations and when they had taken -place.” _

_ -“We were set to ask the preserve owner or some employees about them, but that chance never came.” _

_ -“I had been carrying the files in my purse, though they were kind of crinkled in order to fit inside.” _

_ -“When I fell unconscious, somebody must have taken them, because when I woke up, they were gone.” _

_ -“I don’t have a clue where they might have gone...” _

“The files were taken from the crime scene after the witness fell unconscious, as you can see. The same applies to the victim. The defendant supposedly had the same files on his person as well. However, none of them have been found. It is unknown where they went or who took them at this time, unfortunately,” Robbie frowned. 

“It looks like it’s time to use a certain somebody’s words against them,” I smirked to myself.

“You look like a super villain right now,” Cormous joked, to which I just rolled my eyes.

“Please begin your cross-examination now, defense,” Judge Frost instructed, to which I nodded. There was no reason to hold back now. This would drag Mr. Hernan onto the stand in no time, as this was coming straight from the horse’s mouth.

** ~ Cross-Examination ~ **

** ~ The Files ~ **

_ -“I brought a few files with me to the crime scene the day of the murder.” _

_ -“They explained the details of the case. Included was the list of tax violations and when they had taken -place.” _

_ -“We were set to ask the preserve owner or some employees about them, but that chance never came.” _

_ -“I had been carrying the files in my purse, though they were kind of crinkled in order to fit inside.” _

_ -“When I fell unconscious, somebody must have taken them, because when I woke up, they were gone.” _

_ -“I don’t have a clue where they might have gone...” _

“Objection!”

“You may not know where the files are, witness, but I most certainly do, and so does another person involved with the case,” I announced.

“Who are you talking about?” Judge Frost asked.

“The files were all taken by the other witness, Lou Hernan. We heard as such from the defendant when we first spoke to him. He told us that his papers were taken when he was arrested. Mr. Hernan confirmed such when we later spoke to him on the matter,” I explained. 

“He never said anything like that to me...” Robbie murmured. I saw him clenching one hand tightly into a fist, and I felt bad for him. He was trying to do his job, but the witness was just making it harder for him... At least now he knew how I felt most of the time in court. That’s karma, I suppose.

“Why would he try to hide it from us...?” Prosecutor Wood muttered, her eyes wide. She had stopped looking through her files when she heard about this. 

“That’s what I’m wondering,” Cormous frowned. “I mean, he told us so openly. Why would he be okay with telling us but not the actual police?”

“Probably because he was underestimating us,” I said with a sigh. “I mean, we aren’t officially part of the law enforcement team being lawyers from an independent agency. We can’t produce a search warrant before a trial that’s the next day. It was as if he knew that we wouldn’t be able to legally look through his things, so he told us... It was a bad move on his part, as I’m sure he sees now.”

“Did you hear about something like that from the defendant?” Judge Frost questioned. 

“He said that whoever had arrested him had taken the files, but when I asked Mr. Hernan about it, he said I must have been mistaken. I didn’t know what to do about it since neither side seemed to want to give up. In the end, I wasn’t able to get anything like that out of Mr. Hernan and suspected something was up with Mr. Amaya,” Robbie explained.

“If you ask me, I think it’s time that we hear about this subject straight from Mr. Hernan. He’s the only one who can give us an explanation for why he hid the files from us,” Judge Frost frowned. 

“I agree... Ms. Amaya, you may step down,” Robbie said, glancing over to the witness stand. 

“If you need me again, I’ll be here,” Ms. Amaya told him before leaving behind the stand to sit on the witness’ bench.

“The prosecution now calls Lou Hernan to the witness stand,” Robbie declared. I noticed his voice had lost much of the life behind it, now instead being dull and irritated. I couldn’t blame him given the situation. I would probably be like that if I found out a key witness had lied to me about something too.

Mr. Hernan appeared at the stand not long after. He had an aura of frustration about him, creating a frown on my face. He hadn’t been this way the day before. Even when I had broken his Psyche-Locks, he had been frustrated, but nothing on this level. I wondered for a moment if something had happened, and then it hit me.

He was irritated because of what Cormous and I had done in his office. We had taken the files that he had likely stolen from the victim, Ms. Amaya, and Mr. Amaya. That was bound to put anybody in a bad mood. Even so, I couldn’t feel bad for him. After all, I was sure we had done the right thing, whether it was technically alright or not.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Judge Frost instructed with a small frown. She didn’t seem satisfied with him either.

“Lou Hernan. I’m the owner of the Blackgate Wildlife Preserve,” Mr. Hernan answered. 

“We have reason to believe that you stole files from the victim, assault victim, and defendant. I need you to testify about your response to such. The defense claims that you took the files. The same applies to the defendant. Tell the court why I never heard about this, witness,” Robbie said harshly. I hadn’t seen him this way in a long time. I understood why he was angry, but at the same time, it was still unsettling for me, and even that was probably an understatement.

Mr. Hernan sighed. “You can’t believe everything other people tell you. As a prosecutor, you should know that better than most people. I’m disappointed in you for not seeing that as a possibility before. Lawyers are lying scumbags. You never know when they aren’t telling you the truth,” he told Robbie.

My brother frowned and glared at him. “The witness will halt his slander and begin his testimony. Now.”

“I agree. Please, tell the court about why you withheld information relating to the files from the scene of the crime,” Judge Frost instructed sternly. She was showing a new side too, one of anger and frustration. With all this unhappiness, it was hard not to be infected by it. However, I was doing my best to stay positive, even if Mr. Hernan was insisting on throwing harsh words and cruel glances in my direction. If nobody else could stay perky, it was my job.

“Alright, alright,” Mr. Hernan sighed.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Files at the Crime Scene ~ **

_ -“I have no idea why you’d think that I took some lousy files.” _

_ -“There’s no reason for me to do such a thing. Why would I want to bother some pesky lawyers?” _

_ -“If you ask me, the defendant and lawyer are working together to deceive you all.” _

_ -“You have no reason to believe either one of them, so you should ignore their lies and think about other things.” _

_ -“Even if I did take the files, do you really think I would tell somebody about it?” _

_ -“You have no proof I did anything, because at the end of the day, I didn’t do anything.” _

“He seems pretty insistent that he didn’t do this,” Cormous hissed to me. “What are we going to do about that?”

“It’s simple. All we have to do is bring out our ace. We have an important piece of evidence that will scatter his case to the wind. If we show it, his testimony is as good as done,” I told him. 

“I would appreciate it if the witness would stop being harsh and overly rude to the defendant and defense. There is no reason to be so mean towards them. Please, stop it,” Robbie cut in, glaring at Mr. Hernan.

“Don’t say such things again. Do you understand?” Judge Frost asked.

Mr. Hernan frowned. “Crystal clear.”

“Please begin your cross-examination now, defense,” Judge Frost instructed.

“I’ll get right to it,” I nodded.

** ~ Cross-Examination ~ **

** ~ The Files at the Crime Scene ~ **

_ -“I have no idea why you’d think that I took some lousy files.” _

_ -“There’s no reason for me to do such a thing. Why would I want to bother some pesky lawyers?” _

_ -“If you ask me, the defendant and lawyer are working together to deceive you all.” _

_ -“You have no reason to believe either one of them, so you should ignore their lies and think about other things.” _

_ -“Even if I did take the files, do you really think I would tell somebody about it?” _

_ -“You have no proof I did anything, because at the end of the day, I didn’t do anything.” _

“Objection!”

“I’ve noticed something about you, witness,” I frowned. “You’re very quick to tell everybody that you didn’t commit the crime you’re being accused of, but you forget the position that you’re in.”

“What position?” Mr. Hernan asked. He was glaring at me with the force of seven suns now, and while it may have made the faint of heart back down, I wasn’t going to be discouraged when I had come so far. All it would take was a simple action to take this guy off his high horse, and it was a chance I wasn’t going to be missing.

“You claim that you didn’t take the files, but I have proof that you did. It isn’t just testimony that say such now,” I smirked. I reached into my bag and pulled out a small stack of papers. “Do you know what these are?”

Mr. Hernan froze on the spot. “You... You can’t mean...” he whispered.

“What are those?” Judge Frost questioned.

“These are the very same files the defendant said were taken by the witness here. And they were found in the witness’ desk at the nature preserve!” I exclaimed. “If you ask me, that’s pretty solid proof that he did something to take the files... He wanted them for some reason, and so he took them from the scene of the murder following the death of the victim!”

People in the gallery began to chatter above. I couldn’t help the smile that appeared on my face. I looked up to my coworkers. Chrysalis shot me a smile and a thumbs-up. Deirdre and Yuri grinned in my direction. Victoria seemed impressed, and Mr. Morix had that look of a proud parent. Happiness rose in my chest at seeing their faces.

“Order!” Judge Frost shouted. “Witness, it’s time that you explained yourself! You took the files from the scene of the crime scene, and the court demands that you tell why you would do such a thing!”

Judge Frost’s anger was enough to startle Mr. Hernan. His face had grown considerably paler in the seconds since Judge Frost had begun shouting at him. I smiled to myself at his misfortune. He had this coming for lying to everyone on some front. Lies always caught up with you.

“I... Um...” Mr. Hernan said. I could tell he was trying to salvage this situation for himself somehow, but he was failing pretty miserably at it. He would need a miracle if he wanted to get out of this without incriminating himself or coming off as more suspicious than he already had.

“Yes?” Robbie prompted. He had grown more furious over the course of this trial as well. He seemed to want Mr. Hernan locked up just as much as I did, which was saying a lot. Mr. Hernan probably deserved it, if I was being perfectly honest.

“I can’t tell you,” Mr. Hernan told him under his breath. I could see his hands had clenched into fists during this intense interrogation session.

“And why not?!” I shouted angrily, slamming one hand down on the desk before me. “You have lied to this court enough up to this point! It’s time for you to tell us all the truth behind this case!”

Mr. Hernan slammed his own hand down on the witness stand. “Because it’s dangerous!” he roared in response. “Drop the subject already and leave it alone! I can’t talk to you about this for the sake of my safety!”

Robbie only glared at him more. “What are you on about now? This had better not be another lie,” he snarled. “I have half a mind to arrest you right now, and you’ll have to give me a damn good reason not to do so if you want to keep flapping your lips up there.”

“The truth is... I can tell you all you want to know about the tax fraud taking place at the nature preserve. There’s more to it than you realize, but I’ll happily tell you all that I know. Will that help you to calm down?” Mr. Hernan asked. I had noticed desperation was taking over his voice, and I had a bad feeling. Did he have something up his sleeve? I hoped he was planning on being honest, but it was hard to tell at the moment with all that had happened up to this point.

“Then go on. What’s going on?” I asked, a frown on my face. “If you’re dishonest again, know that you will face consequences for it. It’s only fair.”

“I understand, alright?” Mr. Hernan said, agitated. “The truth is, I’m being blackmailed by somebody else working at the preserve. He made me take the files from the dead body of the victim. I don’t know how he knew the victim had died, but he somehow did.”

“What?!” Robbie roared. “What are you saying?!”

“I didn’t mean to tell anybody about the files I had to take from the people at the crime scene. I was supposed to keep it quiet, but I forgot to keep it quiet. I’m sorry for all of this trouble,” Mr. Hernan told us apologetically.

“I want details now,” Robbie demanded, slamming his hand on the desk before him. Prosecutor Wood was startled by this sudden action and jumped. She had grabbed a notebook and was starting to write down what Mr. Hernan said as he continued to speak.

“Alright, alright. Just don’t hurt me,” Mr. Hernan said, waving his hands back and forth in desperation. “I got a letter a while ago. Somebody had found out about something from my past and was using it to blackmail me. If I didn’t follow those directions, the secret would be exposed. I couldn’t chance that, so I’ve been following those directions ever since. It’s been a while since I acted of my own free will.”

I frowned to myself, glaring at Mr. Hernan. I didn’t understand. Why had he kept this secret up to this point? I supposed that his secret keeping would have a good excuse if he was being blackmailed, but he could have mentioned it to the police to have the blackmailer taken care of. Was his secret really so serious that he had to hide it from even the police?

“I don’t think this makes sense,” Cormous frowned from beside me. “I mean, why would he do those things? He should have just mentioned it if he was being blackmailed.”

“I think he’s lying about something. I know it’s an awful thing to think of, but I can’t think of any other explanation,” I told him in response.

“What is it you were being blackmailed with?” Judge Frost asked. “The court demands that you share this secret.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I can’t tell you about it. Sorry. Leave the subject alone, will you?” Mr. Hernan asked, still frowning deeply. 

“If you don’t mind the interruption...”

The doors to the courtroom opened, and a few seconds later, Detective Wattson came walking inside. She had a file in one hand. “I have some forensics results from the scene of the crime,” she announced. “Is it alright if I share what the investigation team found when looking back over the preserve?”

“Please do,” Judge Frost nodded. “Don’t think you’re free from this subject. We will be returning to it as soon as this report has been covered.”

Mr. Hernan shifted nervously and stepped away from the witness stand. Detective Wattson took his place at the stand and opened an envelope she had been carrying while entering. She skimmed the first page before finding what she wanted to read. “Ah, here it is. We found traces of blood on something in the office of one Lou Hernan,” Detective Wattson explained.

I smirked to myself. This was the time. Detective Wattson had gotten exactly what I needed, and now, it was going to corner Mr. Hernan and help to reveal the truth behind everything that had been going on.

“Blood was found on the quiver hanging on the office of one Lou Hernan. A few fingerprints were lifted from its surface as well, and they belong to the selfsame owner,” Detective Wattson continued. “Nothing else in the office had any blood on it.”

“That was your plan, huh?” Cormous asked of me as the gallery started chattering loudly.

I nodded. “It was. Blood was found on the quiver. You saw it for yourself. It’s a thicker cylindrical object. It could be used to knock somebody unconscious if it was swung hard enough,” I told him.

“What are you whispering about over there?” Robbie questioned. 

“The defense is planning to use this report as evidence that the culprit is Lou Hernan!” I exclaimed.

The chattering of the gallery only increased as I made this announcement. I smirked to myself, looking up at the other people from the agency as I did so. Overall, I was proud with how I had been doing during this trial. I had improved significantly compared to this time the year before. It was strange to think I had been struggling and stumbling over my words just a year before, still in Mr. Morix’s shadow, and now, I was here, doing things on my own with confidence.

Judge Frost hit her gavel against the stand in front of her, knocking me away from my thoughts. “Order!” she cried out. “The court demands an explanation! What are you talking about defense? What makes you think this is the weapon used by the culprit to attack Ms. Amaya?”

“It’s simple really. It’s a thick cylindrical object. That’s what Ms. Amaya described as the weapon used against her. We can trust her words. She was the one hit with the weapon, after all,” I explained. “The rock doesn’t match up with the description she provided, but this does. I plan on showing it to everyone here that the quiver was the weapon.”

“How were the fingerprints placed on the weapon...?” Prosecutor Wood asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “That’s important, right?”

Robbie nodded from her side and reached out one arm, ruffling her hair lightly. Her face flushed pink, which I had to admit, was adorable. The two of them were made to be partners in crime whether they realized it or not. I hoped they would take on other cases in the future.

“It is, as a matter of fact,” Judge Frost frowned. “If the fingerprints aren’t placed properly, then the quiver may not have been used as the weapon and instead was touched by the witness at some other point in time. It was hanging in his office, so the possibility is there.”

“The fingerprints are gathered around one end of the quiver, the closed end, to be specific,” Detective Wattson explained. She pulled a small picture out of her envelope. “Here it is. This shows where the fingerprints were located. As you can see, they’re at one side of the quiver. It looks like the witness held it like a weapon.”

Sure enough, the fingerprints were in a pattern similar to what she had described. It seemed as if the hands that had gripped the quiver were holding it tightly. I would have to compare them to the way you would hold a baseball bat when swinging it sideways.

“It would match up with the bump on Ms. Amaya’s head. It’s not centered, instead being off to one side... Mr. Hernan is right handed, according to our reports about the case. The way these prints are placed certainly matches up with that,” Robbie commented. “What do you have to say to that, witness?”

“Can that wait for a moment?” Detective Wattson cut in. “We found something else at the scene of the crime. We found a lighter sitting beside a large rock. It was far away from the body, but it’s still close enough to likely be relevant. I don’t know what it would have been used for, but I want to put it out there in case you believe it’s important later on.”

“A lighter?” I echoed. 

Detective Wattson fished out another paper, this one showing a lighter. It was silver in color, though it was hidden underneath a few clumps of dirt. It wasn’t very big, only being about two inches long at most. It was certainly easy to lose, and if you weren’t looking for it at the crime scene, it would be difficult to spot. Given how many plants were around the bodies, it would be hard to see among all the greenery despite the color difference. Being covered in dirt was probably the culprit there.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see that,” came the whisper of Judge Frost. “Do you know what the lighter would have been used for?”

“I can’t say for sure yet, but I want you to know it was found at the scene of the murder. You can do what you wish with this information. I figured it was important you knew. With that, I should get going. If something else is found, I’ll be back. Until then, continue going about your business as you were before,” Detective Wattson said. “I’ll see you later, loves.”

Detective Wattson left the courtroom. Judge Frost slammed her gavel down. “We were discussing the blackmail before, but I think that can wait a moment. Instead, let’s focus on the quiver and the fingerprints found on its surface. Witness, how do you respond to that? You’re being suspected for the murder now. It’s widely assumed that the culprit who shot the victim is the same as the one who attacked Ms. Amaya, and if we have reason to believe you did one of those, you could be suspected for the other as well. We need your testimony immediately,” she said firmly.

Mr. Hernan looked more like a deer caught in the headlights than a man now. He glanced around the courtroom nervously, as if looking at the people staring at him would bring him an answer to provide. He swallowed nervously. “I... Um... It’s my quiver. Can you blame me for touching it? The thing is mounted on my wall. I would have to have touched it at some point. I don’t know what you’re planning on using that information for,” he replied.

“Even if it is yours, it’s odd that the fingerprints would be placed the way they are. I want to know why you would hold it in such a way,” Robbie  frow ned. “I would like answers sooner rather than later, Mr. Hernan.”

Mr. Hernan continued to look around nervously before shaking his head. “It fell off its mount. I had to put it back. End of story. Besides, that still doesn’t prove it was used as the weapon by me. For all you know, the defendant could have snuck into my office and used it to attack her before taking it back,” he frowned.

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” I smirked. “The door to your office has a fingerprint sensor on it, yes? How could he get into the office without his fingerprints being in the system of recognition?”

“He could have come in when the door was cracked!” Mr. Hernan shouted. “You came into my office the same way! He could have done it!”

“Didn’t you say you were in your office at the time of the murder?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you have seen him if he came inside to take the quiver? He wouldn’t have been able to do it if you were in there. It would have made his case transparent should he be arrested. I don’t see him having any motivation to use that quiver anyways... Though I can think of a reason for somebody else to use it.”

“What do you mean?” Judge Frost asked.

“Mr. Hernan has a bow and quiver mounted on his wall. The quiver normally has arrows in it. At the very least, it did the day of the murder. I saw them for myself. Think about what the murder weapon was in this case,” I began. “It was a bow and arrow. However, only the arrow was found. The bow is nowhere to be seen. Where do you suppose it disappeared to? I have a theory, and it  definitely points  to Mr. Hernan being the culprit behind this heinous murder case.”

“In that case, go right ahead,” Robbie told me.

I smiled. “I think it goes like this. He heard there were people at the preserve coming to talk to him about tax fraud issues. He didn’t want them to spread the news that something illegal was taking place, so he got a bow and arrow and prepared to take care of the issue himself. He found them walking to the office, and he called Mr. Amaya using a spam number,” I began.

“A spam number? What do you mean?” Prosecutor Wood asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

“We heard from the suspect that he received a call from a spam number the day of the crime,” I explained. “And coincidentally, we found a box with a recording on it on Mr. Hernan’s desk. We believe this recording had the spam call on it. When we pressed a button on the box to play whatever sound files were inside, a spam call began. It sounded like the scams you often get calls about.”

“And you think it matches the number Mr. Amaya was called from... Smart deduction,” Robbie told me with a smile.

“Thank you very much,” I said, bowing my head. “I think that’s a good place to start with accusing Mr. Hernan of the crime.”

“That’s coincidence!” Mr. Hernan shouted.

“Then what did you have the spam call for?” Robbie asked.

Mr. Hernan didn’t have an answer for that one. Instead, all he could do was stand in place and sputter. 

“He doesn’t have an explanation, and I think that’s another thing to keep in mind. On top of this, he has a motive with the tax fraud papers. He must have wanted to get those back. If they were going to reflect on anybody, it would be him. If the preserve’s reputation suffered, so would his. He bears that burden as the owner of the preserve,” I continued.

“So, you think I would resort to murder to get those papers?!” Mr. Hernan questioned, his voice quickly rising in volume. “That’s ridiculous and untrue!”

“If there was minimal evidence to point to you, it could be passed off as coincidence, but there’s too much to ignore. Perhaps I should go over the crime from start to finish, just to prove it,” I smiled.

Judge Frost waited for an objection. When it didn’t come, she nodded. “Go on, Ms. Shield,” she instructed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're getting an extra update on Saturday this week for special reasons. I'll explain it when it comes.
> 
> I don't have much of anything else to say here, so I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> -Digital


	10. Turnabout Wilds, Part 5

**March 4**  

 **Courtroom No. 2**  

 **11:45 AM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

“The day of the murder, the defendant, the previous witness, and the victim all went to the nature preserve with intent of asking questions. They were trying to find the truth behind a tax fraud case that they were given a hint about from the mysterious Oracle of the Law. They headed towards the main office of the owner of the preserve, the current witness, Lou Hernan. Along the way, they paused when Mr. Amaya received a phone call. He had been waiting on a call from the Prosecutor’s Office and thought it had finally come, so he stepped aside for a brief period to see who it was that had called him. 

“Our current witness was the one who had called him, using a recording of a seeming spam number to keep him away from the crime scene. The recording was originally recorded on a small black sound box we found in his office during our investigation. While the call was rolling, Mr. Hernan moved towards the crime scene with a bow and quiver of arrows. Normally, the bow and quiver hung from the wall of his office, though he took them down for this ‘special occasion.’ 

“He went towards the area where Ms. Amaya and the victim were standing, waiting for Mr. Amaya to return. They were halfway between the entrance to the preserve and the office at the time. Mr. Hernan waited for the perfect opportunity before shooting an arrow at the victim, hitting her in the neck and killing her instantly. 

“The victim keeled over, dead from the shot, prompting Ms. Amaya to see if she was alright. While she was checking for a pulse to frantically see if her coworker was alright, Mr. Hernan snuck up behind her. He had the quiver in his hands. He swung it over his head and knocked Ms. Amaya unconscious, giving her a concussion using a cylindrical, blunt object. She felt what the weapon was like as she passed out, an important piece of evidence, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. 

“The defendant returned to the crime scene after realizing the phone call was spam. He saw the dead body and his unconscious sister and panicked. Mr. Hernan, who had hidden the weapons used against the witness and victim elsewhere, seized Mr. Amaya and had him arrested when the police arrived.  

“While Mr. Amaya was still gone, Mr. Hernan tampered severely with the crime scene. He made it look as if the weapon used against Ms. Amaya was a sharp rock as opposed to a blunt cylindrical object. He did this by putting some of her blood on the rock. He also took the papers relating to the tax fraud case from the victim and the witness while they were dead and unconscious respectively. He hid the papers, bow, and quiver elsewhere before arresting Mr. Amaya and turning him over to the police. Mr. Hernan seized Mr. Amaya’s files on the tax fraud at that time. 

“After turning Mr. Amaya over to the police, he returned to his office and hid the files in his desk. He also hung up the bow and quiver on the wall to make it look as if they had never left. He rubbed off the blood from the quiver using a small piece of fabric, which he then burned and threw into the dirt to keep it from being found. He was unaware there were still traces of blood able to be picked up by the forensics team. His fingerprints also remained on the quiver from when he had struck Ms. Amaya, showing it had been used as a weapon. 

“This is how our case comes together at last. Mr. Hernan killed the victim and went so far here to seize their papers regarding the tax fraud. He had likely intended to keep the controversy quiet, but despite his effort, word of it still reached other people. It was common knowledge regarding this case, but we had no idea that it was intended to stay secret. All this time, the motive was hiding right under our noses. However, now that we’ve found the truth, there’s no going back now. It seems perfectly clear to everyone what happened the day of the murder. What do you have to say to that, Mr. Hernan? Are you ready to confess to your crimes?! Even if you aren’t, I believe everyone in this courtroom is perfectly aware of what you did!” 

Mr. Hernan began to growl under his breath. He started to scratch angrily at his arms, tearing through the fabric of his suit jacker. He let out a loud yell as his scratching increased in peace. I watched in silence as he broke down, listened as his scream disappeared into silence. Blood flowed freely from his injured arms now, leaving a small pool on the ground around his feet. He made no move to cover the blood or clean it. Instead, he stared silently at the blood, his face lacking in expression. It was haunting in an odd way. 

“You’re right... I... I did it...” Mr. Hernan whispered. “But you have to understand! I didn’t want to kill her!” 

“The tax fraud allegations are true then,” I frowned. “And you’re the one responsible, aren’t you?” 

“The preserve has been suffering... I couldn’t pay everything I needed to. It’s not my fault! I didn’t realize the place was on the way to going belly up! And I didn’t want to kill her!” Mr. Hernan cried. 

“Then why did you kill her?” Robbie asked, glaring at Mr. Hernan with the force of seven suns. 

“I told you earlier... I was being blackmailed. I received a letter from the one blackmailing me. He told me to kill her when she came my direction. I don’t know why that is. I’ve never understood. I didn’t want him to reveal the tax fraud to the public... He said he would tell everybody the truth. I couldn’t disobey him. It was too dangerous,” Mr. Hernan murmured with a shake of his head. “It wasn’t supposed to get out.” 

“It appears that we’ve figured it all out then,” Judge Frost murmured. “Bailiff, arrest him.” 

“Be careful if you find out who blackmailed me! If I’m going down, I want to take him down too!” came the roar of Mr. Hernan as he was handcuffed. He was dragged away, still crying out angrily until the courtroom doors were shut behind him. 

“What do we know about the figure who was blackmailing him?” Robbie questioned.  

“Nothing, as far as I can tell... Whoever did it knew about the tax fraud and must have wanted the victim dead for it... But I don’t understand. Why would anybody want her dead over a tax fraud case? If they were part of the preserve, working closer to Mr. Hernan would be more beneficial than from a distance. As far as I can tell, there is another reason for this mysterious blackmailer to want the victim dead. I can’t say what it is. We’ll need to do more research before such a conclusion can be reached,” I told him. 

“We can save that for later. For the time being, I think it’s time that we end things here and now,” Judge Frost suggested. “Well, assuming that there aren’t any objections from the defense or prosecution on the matter. It seems perfectly clear to me who the culprit was, and if there aren’t any other issues, perhaps we should call it a day.” 

Robbie looked to Prosecutor Wood. She had been writing furiously on a notepad ever since Mr. Hernan had begun yelling about the person who was blackmailing him. She finished a sentence before looking up to Robbie and nodding her agreement the trial should end.  

“The prosecution has no objections, Your Honor,” Robbie told Judge Frost. 

“And the defense?” Judge Frost prompted. 

I looked over to Cormous, wondering if he would have anything to say on the matter. He shook his head. “I’ve got nothing,” he hissed in my direction. “There isn’t anything else we can find out about the blackmailer standing around here, so we might as well call it good for now.” 

I nodded in agreement before turning to Judge Frost. “The defense has no objections,” I said firmly. Part of me was unsure if we should truly close this case, but Cormous had a point. There was no way to figure out who was blackmailing Mr. Hernan if we were stuck in here. Besides, there was always the chance he was lying. We needed evidence to prove that was the case, after all, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t any. It would have to wait to be revealed, it seemed. 

“In that case, this court hereby finds the defendant, Sky Amaya, not guilty. Court is adjourned!” Judge Frost exclaimed. She lifted her gavel and slammed it down, prompting all to leave the courtroom behind. 

 **March 4**  

 **Defendant Lobby No. 2**  

 **12:15 AM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

Mr. Amaya was waiting with his sister when we arrived out in the defendant’s lobby. I approached the pair with a small smile. “Well, that’s that,” I told him. “I’m glad to see you’re being released from the detention center.” 

“Thanks to you, that is,” Mr. Amaya said. “I really do appreciate it... It means a lot to me. I wish there was some way I could show you how appreciative I am...” 

I shrugged. “You don’t need to worry about paying me back. It’s what we defense attorneys do. I’m just doing my job,” I assured him, a wide grin spreading on my face at the praise. Even if it was part of my work, it never failed to fluster me.  

“I do appreciate it though. Is there anything I can do?” Mr. Amaya asked. 

“Nope. Nothing at all. If I think of something though, I’ll get back to you.” I placed one hand on his shoulder. “Really. Don’t stress it.” 

Mr. Amaya smiled as his sister bounded towards me. She wrapped me in a grand hug. “Lil-Bil! Thanks for helping my brother!” she chirped. “I know he’s a bit of a pest sometimes, but I really do love him, and I didn’t want to see him end up in jail for a crime he didn’t commit!” 

“What do you mean, pest?” Mr. Amaya asked, a frown appearing on his face. “I’m not a pest. Neither one of us is a pest.” 

Ms. Amaya didn’t grace him with a response. Instead she pulled away from our embrace. “I was really nervous I’d lose him too... Blocker Law can’t stand to lose three people in the past month. We’re suffering enough as it is,” she sighed with a shake of her head. 

“Three people?” I echoed. I already knew about the victim working there, though she no longer could due to her death. If Mr. Amaya was found guilty, he would have been two. That left me to wonder who in the world the third and final person could have been. 

“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this yet, but the owner of the agency went missing about a month ago. Nobody knows what happened to her. She took over the law office after Mr. Blocker died two years ago. She was the one who hired me, as a matter of fact. Nobody can say where she is or why she left, but nobody’s seen her in four or so weeks. I wish I could tell you more, but that’s about all I know. The police investigation is still ongoing,” Ms. Amaya explained. 

“Hm... That’s not what I expected to hear,” Cormous whispered with a shake of his head. “What’s her name?” 

“Dee Fence. I’m sure you’ll be able to learn more if you look it up,” Ms. Amaya replied. “I’ll leave extra research up to you since that’s about all I can say for now.” 

“Thank you, Ms. Amaya,” I smiled, bowing my head slightly. 

“No problem, Lil-Bil. It’s the least I can do to help you after all you did to help Sky out,” Ms. Amaya grinned. “I should probably take him back home. He looks pretty hungry. The detention center food is pretty nasty, so I can’t exactly blame him.” 

Mr. Amaya’s face flushed red at her comment. “I... Um...” he sputtered, a frown on his face. He looked away. 

I giggled. “Your secret is safe with me. I’m sure everybody else who has been there agrees with you that it’s nasty, so no need to worry,” I assured him. “I should probably send you on your way now. Your sister has a point. May we meet someday in the future.” 

“Thanks again, Ms. Shield,” Mr. Amaya said, heading for the door. His sister trailed after him and disappeared from sight shortly afterwards. 

“I suppose I have to hand it to you now,” Cormous remarked once they were gone. “I assumed you were going down the wrong path, thinking he was innocent, but you were right. You have my apologies for that.” 

“It’s alright. It takes some getting used to, this job. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll settle right into things before you know it,” I grinned. “I have faith you’ll get used to it eventually. It’s a bit odd at first, yes, but you’re going to wind up okay. You know, assuming you don’t hit on anybody else. Flirting with the boss’ sister is a one-way ticket to being kicked out, so don’t do that.” 

“I have a policy against flirting with minors anyways,” Cormous shrugged. I intentionally held back from telling him Chrysalis was technically a legal adult as of last October. She didn’t need to deal with his attitude, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t either. 

“Speaking of them, we should see where they’ve gone off to. I saw them watching the trial from the gallery, and I’m sure they’ll want to talk to us about what happened. Maybe they’ll have ideas on the blackmailing situation,” I suggested. 

“I doubt that’s the case. After all, they know even less about this case than we do. What are the chances they’d find something to do with the blackmailing incident when we actually investigated and did research but found nothing?” Cormous pointed out. 

I shrugged. “I guess I can dream. I’m a hopeful person. What can I say?” I asked. 

Cormous didn’t give an answer to that remark. Instead, we walked around the lobby before stumbling upon the rest of our coworkers. Deirdre, Yuri, and Victoria were chatting while Mr. Morix and Chrysalis discussed something else a few feet away.  

Victoria was the first one to notice me. She smiled and approached me. “That was amazing!” she exclaimed. “You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time!” 

I blushed, heat rising to my face suddenly and quickly. “Thank you... But I was just doing my job. I saw somebody who needed saving, so I jumped to the task. Soon enough, you’ll be doing the same. I have faith you’ll be great someday. It’s just a matter of time,” I assured her with a nervous smile. 

“I want to take on the next case for sure after that... It looks terrifying, but at the same time, you must get such a rush from proving something to a bunch of people who believe otherwise. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to become a lawyer to begin with. I wanted to feel something like that, to prove that there’s always something more to what we think is plain reality,” Victoria grinned. 

“I’ll be sure to put you on the next case with a mentor. Deirdre might be up for it. I think it would be best if you had somebody experienced by your side to mentor you. That’s how we took care of Deirdre and Lily last year, and they turned out fine,” Mr. Morix said. 

“Except in Deirdre’s case, she was monitored at first by a teen years younger. Whatever works, I suppose,” Chrysalis remarked with a shrug. “Anyways, I still have a few questions about that trial. Do you have any ideas on what the mystery is from that blackmailing thing? I’m left scratching my head over it.” 

“I don’t know what happened either, if I’m being perfectly honest,” I admitted. “At first, I thought it was a desperate attempt by Mr. Hernan to get off with a lighter sentence. People being blackmailed are often given mercy by the judicial system, and since he seems to have ties with police figures, he would know that... However, I’m starting to wonder if it was really just a farce. I can’t say for sure if it was real yet, but I’m determined to find out. With some research, maybe we can figure it out.” 

“Whoever was doing it can’t get in contact with him anymore. He’s surely heading off to prison after that turnabout. There’s no way the blackmailing will continue. His secret is out, and he’s lost much of influence anyways. In other words, the person behind it has no reason to continue on as they were before,” Deirdre remarked. 

“I don’t know if it’s such a good idea to get in there though... I mean, Mr. Hernan was already corrupt by the time this person found him. He was already in trouble for tax fraud regardless of if it was well-known by that point or not. If we try and get too close, we could wind up in the same trouble. I’m sure they had a grudge against the victim too. That’s probably why she died,” Yuri frowned. 

“In other words, let’s leave it to the police. We're already working on training two new employees. We don’t need to make our jobs needlessly more complicated by throwing something else in on top of that, you know?” Chrysalis said with a tight frown. “Let’s concentrate on training Cormous and Victoria. After that’s done, we have something else to do anyways.” 

“What is it?” Cormous asked. 

Chrysalis turned to him with a frown and a glare. “We stop a certain new recruit from flirting excessively with the people he meets. I have a feeling that’s going to get really old really fast. I’m sure you know what I mean, right, Lily?” she prompted, looking to me. 

I couldn’t help myself. I burst out into laughter. “Okay, you’re right! I must say, Cormous is a lot more flirtatious than I ever could have expected. I guess it’s just a habit of his at this point. Is that a correct assumption?” I said, turning my attention towards Cormous. 

“Yeah... It’s a habit. I never said it was a good one, but it’s a habit,” Cormous admitted, wincing slightly. 

“We can try to break it. Don’t worry. There’s a solution for your desperation, and it’s called focusing on other things. Either that or getting a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. Whatever works,” Yuri shrugged. 

“We can discuss this more back at the agency. What do you say to that?” Mr. Morix asked. 

“Sounds good to me. As much as I love being in court with that rush of adrenaline, the seats in the gallery aren’t very comfortable. I need something to sit on that doesn’t make me feel unending pain,” Yuri smiled. “There isn’t a moment to lose where discomfort is concerned!” 

Yuri was the first one to dart out the door. Deirdre ran after her, likely to keep Yuri from getting into any trouble on her own. After all, if anybody at the agency was a maker of mischief, it was Yuri. Victoria giggled as they left before turning to Chrysalis. “She’s a bit strange, but I think she’s sweet. I think I’m going to like it here,” she smiled. 

“You’ll fit in just fine. Consider it a gut instinct,” Chrysalis murmured with a small grin of her own. “And you get used to Yuri’s chaotic energy after a while. It becomes just part of the job once you’re around it enough. It’s a nice change of pace from the constant negativity involved with murder cases.” 

Cormous looked up to Victoria, a smirk on his face. I already knew where this was going. I had seen that grin far too many times over the course of our case. He was preparing a pick-up line of some sort, wasn’t he? 

Sure enough, seconds later, he began to speak. “Hey, darling. You’re looking fine today. What do you say to a date tonight? I’m free if you are,” Cormous told her. 

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “She’s got a boyfriend already. Her... Ahem... Prince, as she called him. I don’t know much about him, but the fact remains that she’s in a relationship. As a matter of fact, why don’t you drop the flirtations entirely and find a new hobby? Scrubbing the agency toilets certainly sounds your speed,” she joked. 

Cormous stared at her in complete horror at the suggestion. “Wh-What?” he asked, his voice suddenly small. 

Mr. Morix let out a laugh and shook his head. “Forgive Chrysalis. She’s only joking. At the very least, I hope she’s joking,” he assured Cormous. “You are, right?” 

He looked down to Chrysalis, who shrugged. “I’ll let you decide which interpretation you like better,” she told him. 

Mr. Morix chuckled, clearly having gotten his answer, before returning his focus to Cormous. “Yuri does have a point though. I bet she’s already dragged Deirdre back to the agency. There’s no point in sticking around here for any longer than we already have. The sooner we get back there, the better. There’s more work to be done, after all,” he pointed out. 

I nodded firmly. “You’re right. Come along, Cormous,” I said, gesturing for him to follow me. 

“We didn’t ride together though. I drove by myself. Why do I need to come along?” Cormous questioned. Despite his vocalized objections, he was following me.  

“You do know the way back to the agency from the courthouse, right?” I prompted.  

Cormous hesitated. “Um... Not off the back of my head, but I’m sure I can look it up. That’s what the internet is for and all that jazz,” he responded. 

I rolled my eyes. “In that case, I’ll leave you to your joyous internet. I want to get back before Yuri gets her hands on something out of the fridge. She’ll bounce around like a chihuahua on seven bags of sugar if she finds the right thing, which is kind of something I'd like to prevent. I have work to do and can’t afford distractions,” I said. 

Cormous nodded and waved to me as I walked out of the courthouse. I was about to head for my car when I heard a voice calling my name over my shoulder. 

“Lily!” 

I turned and smiled upon seeing my brother. “Hey, Robbie,” I grinned, hoping he wouldn’t notice I had almost left without giving him a hello. I had been so caught up in returning to the agency I had almost forgotten. 

“I was going to ask you about the trial today,” Robbie told me. I noticed Prosecutor Wood standing beside him, holding her files tightly to her chest. 

“What about?” I questioned with a tilt of my head. 

“Who do you think was blackmailing Mr. Hernan?” he asked. “I’ll probably need that information for the trial, and yet, I can’t think of anybody relating to the case who would have a motive to do such a thing.” 

“If I’m being perfectly honest, I have no idea. I was thinking about looking into it more, but the others from the agency made a good point. They reminded me that if the blackmailer resorted to indirect murder in this case, they could do such a thing again. I’m planning on leaving it alone from here on out, and to be truthful, I think you should too,” I frowned.  

Robbie nodded. “I understand. Thank you, Lily,” he said. 

I let out a sigh. “Robbie, I know what kind of person you are. You know I know. Why are you going to try and do this when you’re sure I’ll find you out?” I asked. 

“Do what?” Robbie questioned. 

“You’re going to try and figure out who was blackmailing Mr. Hernan even though I told you it’s a bad idea. Why are you like this? It’s dangerous to go digging in places where your nose doesn’t belong. It’s not something to be taken lightly when lives are on the line. I’m not going to let you put your neck at risk because you wanted to learn more about the words of a criminal that may or may not be true,” I told him harshly. 

Robbie shook his head. “Sorry, Lily. If you’re so insistent on me doing something else, I won’t look into it any further. I don’t want to upset you and all that,” he said. 

I smiled in response. “Thank you, Robbie. You’re saving the sanity of your little sister here, and your efforts are much appreciated,” I told him. 

“Are you heading back to your agency now? I doubt your work day is done just because the trial is,” Robbie remarked.  

“You’re right there. We have a bunch of paperwork to fill out because of this trial. Don’t you worry about it though. I’ll still be home on time if all goes according to plan,” I assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m going back to the Prosecutor’s Office too. Niamh and I have some other business to take care of before we can call it a day, and we’re dealing with it sooner rather than later. I figured that would be a better idea than procrastinating,” Robbie said. 

I let out a brief chuckle. “You? Procrastinating? Sounds fake. You’re the most productive person I’ve ever met, which is saying a lot given the people I work with.” 

Robbie rolled his eyes playfully. “I’m going to take that as a compliment. Anyways, I should get going. Niamh is going to take on the case of Mr. Hernan when it goes to court in a few days. I have to prepare her and everything. If all goes according to plan, she’ll be standing alone to prove he committed the crime.” 

Prosecutor Wood’s face turned as white as chalk. “What?” she squeaked. “I’m doing what?” 

Robbie laughed. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t you worry a bit. Now, let’s head back to the office. Business awaits and all that,” he said. “I’ll see you later, Lily.” 

I waved as the duo of prosecutors walked away. “See you!” I exclaimed before getting into my car. That trial had put me in a good mood despite the questions raised at the end. I was determined to do my work more than I ever had been! Me, ready to do paperwork? I never thought I’d see the day, but I’m not going to pass up on the opportunity now! Maybe Mr. Morix would notice and give me a raise! 

 **March 4**  

 **Unknown Location**  

 **Unknown Time**  

 **Unknown Perspective**  

For the second time since we had arrived in our new home, my girlfriend and I were watching the news and seeing content about Oracle. I wasn’t exactly objecting, as new information about them was always welcome, but it still put something of a frown on my face. It got me to worrying about nearly everything, regardless of if it was related or not. I didn’t understand why I was like this, but I most certainly was, and that was something I would have to deal with. 

“The trial was pretty interesting,” the woman beside me said. “I’m sure you would have found it neat. I wish you could have been there. What was keeping you from coming?” 

I shrugged. “I just had other business to take care of. I’m as happy about it as you are. I wish I could have been there too,” I lied. I had been perfectly free to come and see the trial, but when I heard who was taking the defense, I knew I couldn’t. The chances of being spotted and recognized were too great. I couldn’t risk it. Everything I had been working for up until this point would have been ruined, which was the last thing I needed. 

“I’m sure you’ll be able to come next time,” the woman smiled. “You can't be busy every single time I have a trial to go to, right? That would be crazy.” 

I nodded absentmindedly and focused on the TV again. The reporter was talking about how allegations of tax fraud at a nature preserve had come to light because of Oracle. I didn’t understand how that could have happened, as I had missed many of the details while talking to my girlfriend, but I would figure it out sooner or later. 

“You seem pretty focused on Oracle,” the woman frowned. “Do you want to talk about it? Ever since we got here, you’ve been thinking about them constantly. I want to know why... Well, only if you want to tell me. I won’t force you. I’m not that kind of girl, you know?” 

I stared down at my hands, pondering my options. I couldn’t tell her yet. There was other business I had to take care of before I could explain the full story. Hell, I didn’t even think I had the full story as to why I was so interested. It was going to be a while before I could come out and explain it. Until then, she would have to deal with my silence. 

“I can’t,” I said simply, somehow keeping all of that from spilling out. 

“It’s okay. I’ll be here when you’re ready, alright?” the woman asked. I nodded as she planted a small kiss on my cheek and headed off to bed.  

I watched her go before looking to the TV. I wished I could go back more than anything else, but that would have to wait... How long? I had no idea. 

 **TURNABOUT WILDS**  

 **END**  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Saturday update? What is this witchcraft? A birthday gift!
> 
> One of my closest friends and fellow developers on the Morix and Alitia universes is turning a year older today! In honor of that, I'm giving her two updates for her birthday! I hope you like them, Nom!
> 
> -Digital


	11. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 1

"You are the scum of this planet. I can't believe a man so pathetic could cause so much pain."

_"Toby? Hey, Toby... Wake up...!"_

"Men like you deserve the fate that's coming for you. Tch. So many years of suffering could have all been diverted if I stomped this weed out before it could grow."

_"Um, excuse me... My apologies."_

"Get out of my way!"

_"Here's a warm welcome they'll never forget... Welcome to the heart and soul of the Oracle group. At the center of the darkest place in the city, you'll find the greatest light for the future."_

"At least he's dead now. Father, I've done you proud."

**April 1**

**Morix Law Offices**

**1:45 PM**

**Victoria von Graye**

I sat down on the couch in the agency's main area, a few papers in hand. "Where should I file these away? They're from the case Lily and Cormous had last month," I said.

"Wherever you can find space for them," Yuri grinned. She was stretched out on the ottoman, her head falling over the back of it as she stared up at me from a reversed angle. 

"No," Deirdre cut in gently. "I'll take care of it for you. The filing system can be complex at first. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it after a while, but I don't think it's wise to jump right into telling you exactly how it's done. It becomes a jumbled mess in your mind. You'll have to take my word on that one."

Lily, who had been sitting on the couch next to me, sighed and shook her head. "You have no idea," she grumbled.

"Do you know where Cormous is?" Yuri asked. 

"Why do you ask?" Lily questioned in response.

"I don't know. I guess I just want to talk to him," she said coolly. "Call it pure morbid curiosity, I guess."

"He's working reception while Mr. Morix is at the Prosecutor's Office for the day," Deirdre answered.

"It seems like you're the one keeping everyone around here sane when Mr. Morix is out," I remarked to Deirdre.

"I normally don't do this. Chrysalis is typically the one to keep everything under control, but she's gone today. I don't know why. I suppose she had some other important business to take care of," Deirdre replied.

A knock came at the main room's door. Yuri jumped to her feet, seemingly desperate for some excitement. "I'll get it!" she chirped excitedly. She was running faster than the speed of light as far as I was aware. 

I turned my head over my shoulder to see who it was. To my knowledge, nobody who worked here would want to knock when coming in. Cormous just barged in wherever, and Mr. Morix and Chrysalis owned the place. It was odd, and to me, it signified a visitor.

Sure enough, I was right. A young woman with black hair in a bob cut. Freckles dotted her cheeks, and her eyes were a bluish gray color. She had a green headband in her hair to match her sleeveless green jacket. A white shirt was beneath the jacket. She had a pleated black skirt on. Finally, she was wearing fingerless black gloves and knee-high laced boots of the same obsidian shade.

"Who might you be?" Deirdre questioned, looking up from her paperwork.

"Um... My name is Mukuro Erikson! Is Chrysalis here?" the young woman asked, glancing around the room with a frown.

"No, Chrysalis is gone at the moment. What do you need?" I asked.

"Hi, Mukuro!" Yuri grinned with an enthusiastic wave. "It's been too long since we saw each other! It's me, Yuri! You're bigger, and so am I!"

The girl, Mukuro, relaxed significantly upon noticing Yuri was the one who had opened the door. "I'm glad to see you... I need some help. You know my father, Toby Erikson, right? He's been a detective on a few cases for this agency, or at least that's what he's told me," Mukuro explained.

"We know him, yes. Has something happened?" Deirdre questioned, rising to her feet.

"He's been arrested for murder!" Mukuro cried.

"No way! But he's such a good guy! I know he would never do something like that!" Lily exclaimed.

"I know he wouldn't either... I wanted your help with defending him," Mukuro said firmly.

"Why were you asking for Chrysalis then?" I asked.

"Well, we go to school together. We've been close friends for a while now, and since she works at a defense agency, I figured she'd be able to help me. Do you know where she is?" Mukuro questioned, looking around the room once again.

"I'm afraid not. Chrysalis hasn't been here all day, sadly," Deirdre explained. 

"I guess that's okay. I'm sure you know what you're doing. Could you please help me defend my father?" Mukuro begged.

"Of course," I assured her. "Can you give us a few details on the crime?"

"I don't know very much, I'm afraid. I've been trying to become a detective on this case, but it isn't working," Mukuro sighed, her shoulders sagging significantly.

"Detective?" I echoed in shock. This young girl was a detective?

"Well, assistant. I've been working with my father on cases for a long time. I do all sorts of work around the precinct where they need me, and I want to help the detective out so I can prove he didn't do it. There's got to be some evidence to show he's innocent, and I'm going to find it," Mukuro told us firmly.

"That's quite impressive for someone so young," I murmured.

Mukuro flushed pink but shook it off. "I can take you down to the detention center to see him. I'm sure you'll want to ask him about details relating to the case, right?"

"Of course. We'll just need to figure out who's staying behind for today," Yuri nodded. "I want to go out on a case. I haven't gone out since the Interpol case, and that was last year. Give me something to do!"

"I just took a case on. I'll stay behind and help Cormous with management," Lily said. "You had better be thankful I'm putting myself through this for you three."

"I'll try to take on the case as well," Deirdre remarked. "I want to help Victoria learn the ropes."

"Mr. Morix said I could help on the next murder investigation, and since it's come up, I guess I'll hop on board as well," I told them. "Thank you for letting us go, Lily. I really do appreciate it."

"You have a good time out there. Be thankful you don't have to put up with the frustration that is Cormous. At least he's working reception today while I'm doing other things up here. That barrier of a few floors is going to keep me from tearing my hair out," Lily sighed with a shake of her head.

"Well, let's get going. I'll see you later, Lily. I hope Chrysalis comes along to save you from this torture of being alone soon," Yuri smiled, waving as she headed towards the elevator. Mukuro followed after her silently. It was clear she wasn't used to being in an environment like this. 

"You have no idea how much I'm hoping for that too," Lily muttered. "Well, I'll see you later."

With that said, we all headed out towards the elevator. From there, it was off to the detention center. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest the whole way there. Finally, I was taking on a real case as a defense attorney! I had been waiting so long for this, and the day had come at last! I was excited, but at the same time, my stomach twisted itself into dozens of knots. Regardless of nerves, I would have to face the situation with optimism. Deirdre and Yuri would be with me, and they knew what they were doing. Hopefully, that would keep me from getting into too much trouble as the case went on.

**April 1**

**Detention Center**

**2:15 PM**

**Victoria von Graye**

When we arrived at the detention center, a man was sitting on the other side of the glass. I could see the resemblance he bore to Mukuro when I looked closely. They had the same eyes and hair color for one. He had to be the one.

"Detective Erikson?" Deirdre asked slowly.

The man looked up and smiled slightly, though it was clear to me he was exhausted. "Hello, Ms. Brigit. I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

"I brought them here. I didn't want to see you wind up in jail for a crime you didn't commit," Mukuro cut in.

Detective Erikson looked over to Mukuro, and his face instantly lit up. "Mukuro... You're far too sweet. I'm surprised to see you here though. I expected you to be with Detective Wattson investigating the crime scene. She's the leading detective on this case, and I know how well you two get along," he remarked. "I'm sure she'd be glad to have your company."

"I didn't realize she was the detective! Wow!" Mukuro gasped. "I'll hear the details from you and go off to see her."

"Sounds good to me," Detective Erikson nodded. "The crime took place this morning here in the detention center. Well... Sort of in the detention center. It was in the interrogation area of the prison, though it's over here on the detention center side."

"Another prison murder... That's my favorite," Yuri said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. I frowned in her direction. Did something happen before I was hired in the prison? I suspected that was the case. I could ask about it later. It felt wrong to interrupt now.

"I was interrogating a newer prisoner who was arrested a few months ago. His name is Alphonse Clarence. He was arrested for evidence forgery. Since he was a prosecutor, that was a high crime. He had been falsifying evidence for many years, ever since beginning his career as a prosecutor more than thirty years ago. He was close to retirement anyways, but this brought all his plans for the future to an immediate close," Detective Erikson began.

"What brought this out?" I questioned.

"He was caught forging evidence in a recent murder trial. Apparently, the Oracle of the Law found out and sent the chief prosecutor a letter on the matter. A few days later, he was facing court charges and was convicted. Even if many crimes exceeded the statute of limitations, or time in which he could be prosecuted, his recent charges were enough to lock him up permanently," Detective Erikson continued.

"It sounds like this guy was a real hunk of trouble," Yuri frowned. "Why were you interrogating him?"

"Well... I guess you could say we go back a long way. He was involved in a series of court cases that caused many major issues for the current state of the legal system. First and foremost, he was involved in a case in which a defense attorney named Amelia Wattson was murdered. The culprit behind her death was never found, and since he was known for forging evidence, I thought he might have had something to do with it. I doubted his negative aspects stopped at making false pieces of evidence to win court cases," Detective Erikson explained.

"What else?" Deirdre asked. I noticed she had taken out a small notepad and was jotting down a few notes on the matter.

"He was involved in yet another murder, this one for a famous judge. His name was Gabriel Wood. He was perhaps the best at his job in the city. He was shot to death, and a man was convicted despite likely being innocent... That caused more than a few issues for us in the present, to say the least," Detective Erikson sighed. "This is going to take a while to fully explain, so get comfortable."

Yuri, Deirdre, and I silently got chairs that had previously been pushed up against the wall. We moved them to be in front of the glass. Mukuro remained standing, bouncing back and forth slightly on the balls of her feet with anticipation.

"Antonio Emsthorpe was the father of Augustus Emsthorpe. Augustus leads an assassination ring as a way of getting back at the legal world for the wrong conviction and eventual execution of his father. For revenge, he targets important legal figures and has them killed in hopes the system will fall apart. A notebook was found in Clarence's cell after he was killed with a written confession to all his evidence forgeries as well as the killings of Amelia Wattson and Gabriel Wood. His escaping the crimes he committed cost many people their lives and caused the Emsthorpe crime ring, which is filled to the brim with hitmen after important figures," Detective Erikson continued.

"That's horrible... I had never heard of such a thing..." I murmured.

"It's because of that signed confession that I'm being suspected for this crime. Back when Amelia was still alive, which was many years ago, the two of us were close. I was young at the time, but I still wanted to be her friend. In her kindness, she reached out to me. I looked up to her a lot, but... She was killed by Clarence for digging too deep in his evidence forging business. He later killed Gabriel Wood for getting too close in the same way. The court had a suspicion he was behind it, but he got away anyways. I've been investigating him for years in hopes I would find something to pin him down, even if the statute of limitations expired long ago. In the end, I found what I wanted, though it cost a lot to do so," Detective Erikson sighed.

"I had no idea any of that happened..." Mukuro whispered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it was in the past. I was giving up on prosecuting Clarence for his crimes, but that letter from Oracle changed everything for me. I now understand all that he did in his lifetime... I was able to prosecute him, but now he's dead. The police think it's because I held a grudge against him that he died. They think I killed him since he was the one who murdered Amelia so many years ago. I assure you, that isn't the case," Detective Erikson said. "You believe me, don't you?"

"Of course we do!" I blurted out. "I know you wouldn't kill anyone. I know we've just met, but I think you're innocent. I'll gladly defend you."

"I don't think we've met," Detective Erikson remarked. "What's your name?"

"Um... I'm Victoria von Graye. I'm new to the agency. Mr. Morix hired me earlier this year," I replied.

"Looks like he made a good choice on who to hire," Detective Erikson smiled.

"What else can you tell us about the murder itself? What happened at the time? Is there any other reason aside from that motive that you would be suspected?" Deirdre questioned. "We're probably going to head to the crime scene after this, but it might be best to go in there with this information in mind."

"I was in for one of my weekly interrogations this morning. I decided to press him further on his evidence forgeries, but as usual, he didn't say anything new. Out of the blue, a guard from the prison walked in with some tea requested by Clarence. He offered me some as well, and I accepted. I didn't recognize him since I don't spend much time around here. Shortly afterwards, I found myself getting tired, and then my memory goes black. If you ask me, the tea was probably laced with a drug to knock me unconscious. I don't know who that guard was either. You'd have to ask someone who was in the area at the time if they knew him," Detective Erikson told us.

"What did he look like?" I asked.

"I couldn't see his hair. It was hidden under his hat. His eyes were hidden too. He was on the taller side and had a few inches on me. His voice was unfamiliar. I don't have the faintest idea who he could have been, I'm afraid," Detective Erikson frowned.

"That man sounds rather suspicious then. Perhaps he's our real guilty party," I suggested, placing one finger on my chin.

"It's likely to me, but I can't say for sure. You'll have to do some more investigating before you can be positive. I can't even tell you his hair or eye color, which is going to make identifying him much harder... I know his voice though. It's hard to describe. If I could get a recording, I would be able to tell you exactly who he is. I don't know if anyone would have recorded his voice though. I mean, there are cameras in the prison and detention center, and I'm sure one of them caught a rough outline of what he looks like, but any details are probably gone. His hat was incredibly irritating with its hiding of important details, unfortunately," Detective Erikson told us.

"Well, I appreciate you telling us all this. Is there anything else we should know before heading to the scene of the murder?" Yuri questioned.

"There is one thing... Well... There was something found in my pocket by the police. It was a bottle with dissolving cyanide tablets in it. My fingerprints were found on the outside as well, though I don't know how they would have gotten there," Detective Erikson said. 

"The victim died of poisoning then... That would make sense given how he was given tea by that guard you mentioned. If the bottle was found on you, the police finding you to be a suspect makes sense as well," Deirdre murmured. "Thank you for this information."

"I trust you to take care of this investigation. Mr. Morix knows what he's doing," Detective Erikson smiled. "I'll be seeing you four later."

**April 1**

**Interrogation Room No. 1**

**2:30 PM**

**Victoria von Graye**

We made our way over to the crime scene after finishing our conversation with Detective Erikson. Mukuro dashed ahead of us to get there sooner, though Deirdre, Yuri, and I took our time in arriving. 

When we got there, the first thing I saw was the body. The room was small and mostly taken up by a table. One side had a metal ring on it, likely for the handcuffs of prisoners to go so they couldn't get up and escape. That was the side with the body on it. The victim was an older man hunched over the table with blood dripping from his mouth. His eyes were wide open in shock. A teacup sat beside him that had been spilled over. There wasn't much else of particular note since the table took up so much space. There wasn't much room for there to be other evidence as far as I could tell.

"You must be the attorneys."

I turned upon hearing the voice behind me. It took me a moment, but I recognized this woman. She had been the detective in charge of the case Lily and Cormous had been working on at the nature preserve. I remembered she had testified in court to explain the basic aspects of the case.

"We are, as a matter of fact," Deirdre smiled. "Detective Wattson, I'm glad to see you here. It's always nice to see a familiar face on a case like this."

"I've been leading the investigation and such into this case since arriving. This case instantly attracted my attention, so I had to take care of it," Detective Wattson said.

"You know, there's something I was meaning to ask you about," Mukuro frowned. I hadn't even noticed she had approached us alongside the detective until now. I certainly needed to work on my observational skills if I was going to be working in this field...

"What is it, love?" Detective Wattson asked.

"When my father was explaining the case, he told us about the motive behind it. He said that he was close friends with an attorney named Amelia Wattson up until her murder. I was wondering if you two were related," Mukuro explained. 

Detective Wattson's face was overcome by a wave of solemnity. It was enough to tell me exactly the answer to Mukuro's question. "As a matter of fact, yes. I have something of a personal stake in this case because of the crimes the victim committed in his life," she frowned.

"What was your connection to this Amelia woman?" Yuri questioned.

"Amelia was my older sister. I was only a toddler when she died, so I didn't know her all that well. I don't remember her at all, as a matter of fact, because she passed on so soon," Detective Wattson told us. "Her murder was considered unsolved for many years, but all of a sudden, we have a written confession from the victim admitting he killed her and got away with it... When I heard about that, I had to learn more. I wasn't going to let this chance to find the truth pass me by."

"That's horrible... It must be awful to have a sibling die like that," I murmured, looking down at the ground sadly.

"You have no idea," I heard Yuri grumble. I saw her rubbing at her eyes from my peripheral vision.

"I wanted to figure out if the victim really did kill her. As far as I can tell, it all adds up. He was forging evidence to gain ground as a prosecutor. She found him out, and he lashed out at her for it," Detective Wattson sighed. "It's a tragedy to be sure. I never knew my sister because of that man, and now, I need to learn more about him. I can't let this go now. I've already spent far too many years in the dark."

"I'm glad you told us about this... I'm a bit worried, if you want the truth. Detective Erikson told us a lot about the case that followed the death of Amelia Wattson. Apparently, it was a major incident that caused the forming of an infamous assassin ring," Deirdre muttered with a shake of her head.

Detective Wattson paused. "What do you know about that case?" she asked hesitantly.

"Um... The victim was Gabriel Wood, and he was killed likely for investigating the evidence forgeries of our victim here. The person convicted was assumed to be the culprit despite a lack of decisive proof, and in the end, he was executed for it. Afterwards, the Emsthorpe crime ring surfaced so the son of the 'culprit' could get his revenge on the legal system," Yuri said. "Why do you ask? Is there something else we should know?"

Detective Wattson didn't say anything for another moment or two. She briefly glanced over at Mukuro before focusing her attention back on us defense attorneys. "I don't think it's really my place to tell you. In fact, I believe the witness would have a better idea of how to explain it."

"Witness? Who's the witness?" I asked. "He didn't mention anybody stumbling upon the crime scene when we were talking to him."

"The witness is one Kraig Erikson. He's the father of the defendant and a detective set to retire soon," Detective Wattson explained. "He found To--erm, the suspect, unconscious at the scene of the murder next to the body of the victim. He woke up the defendant and called the police to the crime scene for the initial investigation."

"Grandfather is the witness? No way!" Mukuro gasped. "I didn't know that detail..."

"He is, as a matter of fact," Detective Wattson nodded. "I think he's in another room down the hall. They're using a different interrogation room as a temporary headquarters for the investigation since the scene of the crime is so small. If I had to guess, he would be in there talking to a few other investigators about what he saw and did when he discovered the body and the defendant. I'm sure he'd be glad to talk to you if you wanted more details about the case."

"Thank you, Detective Wattson," I smiled.

"I don't think we should go on to the other interrogation room quite yet though... There's one more thing that's bothering me about the case from when the Emsthorpe crime ring started..." Yuri remarked, playing with a few strands of her hair.

"What is it?" Mukuro questioned.

"It's the last name of the victim. Wood. I wonder if he's related to Prosecutor Wood at all. For all we know, this could be a blast to the past for multiple people. I mean, it happened with Detective Wattson and Amelia Wattson. Detective Erikson was technically involved in that scenario too. The Emsthorpe man who was executed had a child who now runs a crime ring. It wouldn't surprise me if this generational thing continued with her, you know?" Yuri said.

"As far as I'm aware, it does, yes," Detective Wattson nodded. "Gabriel Wood was a judge up until his death. That mantle was later taken up by his younger son, Robin Wood, who just so happens to be the father of Niamh Wood. Unfortunately, Robin Wood was murdered by the Emsthorpes and is no longer with us. Robin established an information-gathering company to find out more about the person who murdered his father. After his death, it was passed to his brother, Conrad Wood."

"It sounds like you've been doing your research," I commented.

"I made it my job to find out all I could about the death of Amelia and what happened afterwards. I had a suspicion they were related," Detective Wattson shrugged. 

"That information-gathering company... What is it called?" Deirdre questioned.

"Gather Law Incorporated. It's been collecting information on many subjects for years now. The owner of the company is one of the richest men in the city. He's not someone you want to trifle with should you wish for your reputation to remain intact. Granted, you probably wouldn't guess that by talking to him. In the few instances I've asked him about the past, he's behaved somewhat oddly," Detective Wattson told us. "I'll leave it up to your imagination how he was. He's a quirky man. I'll just leave it at that."

"If you ask me, the past is going to be a huge part of determining everything that happened with this case," Deirdre murmured. "Thank you for telling us all of this, Detective Wattson. We'll be sure to keep this information in mind during our investigation."

"I think it would be a good idea for you to go and talk to the witness down the hall. He can explain any details I missed. I'm sure he's been doing his own research since he's got a reason to get tied into this case as well... I'll let you hear it from him. I don't think I should be the one to tell you about it," Detective Wattson frowned.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Yuri admitted. "If you won't even go near telling us, I bet it really is serious."

"Yes, it is... After you talk to him about what he saw, you should head to the victim's cell. It's on the prison side of the building, so it's a bit of a walk, but you can see his written confession there. The police decided to leave the notebook he wrote in where it was in case further investigation of his cell is necessary," Detective Wattson continued.

"We'll be sure to do that," Deirdre nodded. "I can't thank you enough for all you've told us about what you know. I'm sure it's a hard subject to think about."

"I just want to find out more about that monster who killed her... As much as I hate to say it, the person who did him in was likely doing the world a favor," Detective Wattson sighed with a shake of her head. "Anyways, Mukuro and I have some other business to take care of. I should show her the crime scene. It's been a while since you've done investigating, right, Mukuro?"

"Not since before I left for training camp last year," Mukuro murmured with a shake of her head.

"Training camp?" I echoed in confusion.

"Yeah. I figured I would be able to do more as a detective if I learned how to fight and such. That's what I've been doing in my off time. So far, it's going pretty well, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, it keeps me from taking on too many cases and gaining experience as a detective," Mukuro frowned.

"I'm sure you'll get there one day!" Yuri chirped with a wide grin.

"Thanks!" Mukuro exclaimed. "Anyways, you should be off, and I should be too. I've got a lot to do before the trial kicks off tomorrow."

We waved goodbye to Mukuro and Detective Wattson before heading out of the room. I didn't need to say anything to the other two to know their heads were spiraling out of control with thoughts on all we had learned.

"If you ask me, the cases surrounding the deaths of Amelia Wattson and Gabriel Wood are going to be the key components to solving this case. There wasn't much of anything at the crime scene, so what was found in the victim's cell is going to be what matters," Deirdre announced.

"I get the feeling things are going to be a lot more complicated than they should be though," Yuri sighed with a shake of her head. "I guess you can call it a gut instinct."

"We won't let ourselves be taken out by that though, right?" I asked.

"Of course not! We have a duty, and we aren't going to give in anytime soon! Detective Erikson, Detective Wattson, and Mukuro are all counting on us. I don't want to let them down," Yuri agreed.

"In that case, let's go and talk to the witness. We aren't doing ourselves any good by standing around and talking like this," Deirdre suggested. Yuri and I nodded our agreement before following her down the hallway to the interrogation room where the witness was being kept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's case three!
> 
> This is yet another prison murder just like the second case of the last book. However, this one is more fun because we get to see the suffering of one of the worst characters in this universe (aka the victim). He's the worst.
> 
> Also I'm going to be talking about this for a while but Three Houses owns my soul-
> 
> -Digital


	12. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 2

**April 1**

**Interrogation Room No. 2**

**3:00 PM**

**Yuri Rinko**

The next interrogation room over was considerably less crowded, I noticed. There was a table in there, but there wasn't a body. Not many police officers were huddled around anything specific. In fact, there were only a few standing off in the corner. As for other people, there was only one person, and he was sitting at the table in the center of the room.

He looked a lot like Detective Erikson, I noticed. He was wearing a large jacket of a beige color. His hair was black, though gray was starting to creep into it. His eyes were tired and matched Detective Erikson's in color. He hadn't noticed us yet since he was far too busy staring at his hands. 

"Um... Hello?" Victoria asked, walking a bit closer after brief hesitation. "Are you the witness for this case?"

The man stood after seeing us. "Who's asking?" he questioned bluntly. He was tall, I noticed. I felt short with him, Deirdre, and Victoria surrounding me on all sides.

"Deirdre Brigit, Yuri Rinko, and Victoria von Graye. We're the defense attorneys on this case," Deirdre explained. As always, she was the one keeping her cool. She could easily compete with Mr. Morix for being the most relaxed of our little agency crew.

The man's face softened. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kraig Erikson. I'm Toby's father and a detective myself," he told us.

"It's nice to meet you," Victoria smiled, bowing her head slightly. "We were wondering if you could tell us about what you saw when you discovered the body."

"I can do that, yes," the man said. You know what? Saying Detective Erikson for two different people is going to get confusing. I'll just call him Detective Kraig. Technically, it's still accurate, so nobody can pester me about it.

"You were the one to discover the victim had died, yes?" Deirdre prompted.

"I was. I knew Toby usually came by around this time to question Clarence on his crimes and hoping to get a confession out of him. The interrogation was supposed to end ages beforehand, and yet, it didn't. I was starting to get worried, so I decided to go check on him. When I did, I found Toby unconscious with the body," Detective Kraig told us. "I'm sure you saw the crime scene. There was a teacup with spilled tea. He was poisoned, so that was the murder weapon."

"What did you do after finding the scene?" Victoria asked.

"I shook Toby awake. I wasn't sure if he was dead or just unconscious, so I tried to get him up. He woke up shortly afterwards, and once he was awake, I called for help. Nothing was changed about the crime scene as far as I can tell. As crime scenes go, it's rather simplistic," Detective Kraig continued.

"We noticed. With so little to look through, we're really going to have to rely on testimony to take care of things," I remarked with a shake of my head. I never liked these cases. Investigating the crime scene was so important, and if we couldn't do that, it made things so much harder.

"Did anything else stick out to you about the crime scene? Was anything else off when you discovered the body, inside or outside the interrogation room?" Deirdre questioned next.

"Well... There is one thing that's sort of been bothering me. It's been going on ever since Clarence was brought here to begin with, which was a few months ago. I think there's somebody around here who shouldn't be," Detective Kraig frowned. 

"Someone who shouldn't be here? Do you have any ideas on who it could be?" Victoria asked.

Detective Kraig shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It looks to be a young woman, at least from what little I've seen of her. She wears all black and hides her face with a hood. She wanders around without talking to anyone. She's not a guard, and as far as I can tell, she isn't a prisoner. No prisoner has free reign over where they go in the prison. It's all strictly monitored by the guards," he told us.

"I can assume she isn't wearing a uniform like what the guards wear then," I murmured.

"No, she isn't. Instead, she just wears all black. It's the same thing each day. She appears and then disappears without saying a word. I've tried to talk to her, but she doesn't say anything. I've asked what she's doing here, but she doesn't answer. I can't exactly arrest her. She hasn't done anything wrong, which means that's illegal. I just wonder who she could be," Detective Kraig said with a sigh. "It makes no sense."

"Did she appear before Clarence came to the prison?" Victoria questioned.

"I can't be sure. I've only started coming here often a few months ago. It was around when he was convicted of his crimes. I have a few things to iron out with him, the same as my son," Detective Kraig explained. "If she was doing this before I started coming to the prison, I wouldn't know about it. I didn't have a reason to come here before Clarence was convicted, so I didn't know."

"That's odd... I wonder if this mysterious woman is the culprit. I mean, Detective Erikson didn't get much of the other person's appearance before they left. Maybe he was mistaken and it was this mysterious figure," Victoria suggested.

"I think he said they were wearing the uniform of prison guards though," Deirdre frowned. "It's a possibility we can't exactly discount. I suppose she could have taken a guard's uniform and continued on with her business after changing away from the uniform. There's no way of telling for sure."

"It makes your head spin, that's for sure," I grumbled with a shrug of my shoulders. "But there isn't much we can do about it now. Unless we can track this woman down, we can't talk to her about what she's been doing in the prison to begin with."

"I doubt she'd say anything, if I'm being perfectly honest," Deirdre said. "Remember what he said a moment ago. Even if you approach her, she doesn't give an answer."

"I think that's enough of talking about her for now. If you want my opinion, we should ask more about the motive for murder. Detective Wattson made it sound like our friend here would have something extra to say on the matter," I pointed out.

"What have you heard about the motive?" Detective Kraig asked hesitantly. It seemed like he was testing the waters to see if he should share what he knew. I would be lying if I said it didn't make me nervous.

"We heard Detective Erikson has something of a motive relating to the death of a defense attorney many years ago. Alphonse Clarence killed one of his friends from his childhood and got away with it. Now, he's finally being locked up in prison for other crimes. In his cell, a notebook was found with a confession to the crime, which would give him a motive. If he wanted to get rid of Clarence, that notebook would push him over the edge to do so," Victoria explained. "We still don't think he did it though. We believe in our clients to the end, after all."

"Well... I should probably start from the very beginning," Detective Kraig said. "It's a lot more complicated than that. Everything relating to the death of Amelia Wattson is complicated. From her death, things spiraled out of control and created what you see now."

"Then let's start from the very beginning. Anything you can tell us would be helpful to our case," Deirdre told him. "We'll gladly talk to you for as long as you want us to stay to hear more on the matter."

"In that case, let's go on and start this. It's a long one," Detective Kraig sighed. "Back when Toby was young, around six or so, a new law agency came into existence. It was called Wattson Law Offices. The owner of the agency was Amelia Wattson. She and her small band of attorneys worked hard to clear the charges of any who were falsely arrested. They quickly became well-known for their work. Those days were the start of the corruption you see in the legal system today. False charges were on the rise back in those days, and it's hit an all-time high now."

"They were helping to get rid of corruption though. If they were saving people who had been falsely arrested, that's good," Victoria smiled. 

"They did help out a lot. Overall, they were doing well. Their band was gaining a positive reputation. They were the people to turn to if someone you knew was falsely accused of a crime. Even if the circumstances surrounding the crime were ridiculous, they'd handle it. It was their promise, I suppose," Detective Kraig continued. "They took on three major cases before Amelia died. Sure, there were others here and there, but they were the main ones.

"First, a young girl was arrested at a cemetery. This was the agency's first ever case, and from there, the agency took it on. Amelia Wattson showed what she was capable of for the first time, and she saved a girl from false charges. At the time, false charges were almost unheard of. It was normal to listen to what the prosecution said without fail. They were always right, or at least, that's what we thought. It was the start of something revolutionary, and it was something as simple as saving a girl's future.

"Next, they saved another young woman being accused of murder. She was a spirit medium living in a temple. Her life was easily saved with their skills. Their reputation was starting to grow from there. Word was spreading of the law agency taking a stand against false charges. Nobody even realized how severe the growing epidemic was until they entered the scene. Things were starting to look up. This agency was starting a revolution against corruption and showing that falsity was no way to run a government and legal system.

"Third was another case where they saved an innocent person. It was a schoolboy who would later grow to be incredibly important. His name was Robin Wood. He was the son of Gabriel Wood, a future victim to murder. He was saved from his charges as well. Gabriel Wood had been the judge on all of these cases, and while serious, he still was good at his job. He was one of the best judges in the area. Nearly everyone had heard his name in one way or another. His reputation was unmatched among judges.

"They took on many cases after this one. More people began to question charges and asked for help. They gladly helped out those who needed it. Even people in other cities knew about this agency. They were doing so much in this area to help others. People began to stand up to false charges all over the nation. It was spreading rapidly, and soon enough, it was commonplace to question the words of the prosecution. Not everything they said was true, they realized. Like I mentioned, it was revolutionary. Up until then, it had been unheard of, but they were changing the status quo in a fundamental way.

"This was when Amelia Wattson was murdered. Since they were standing up to corruption, they had a lot of work to do. However, not all corruption could be settled in the courtroom. In response to this uprising of defense attorneys combatting false charges, prosecutors were growing more corrupt. Guilty verdicts were less common, and some prosecutors missed the old way things were done. They began to forge evidence in hopes the old system would come back. Their reputations were suffering, and the only way to fix it as far as they were concerned was to forge evidence and make defendants look guilty wrongfully."

"That's what caused Amelia Wattson to die, right?" Victoria asked.

Detective Kraig nodded. "It was. She realized that Alphonse Clarence, a prosecutor known for his long history of guilty verdicts, had to be forging evidence. He had prosecuted a case in which the defendant, so obviously innocent, had been sent to death. Said defendant later committed suicide despite the efforts of another agency in the city to save their life. Amelia began to research him, and she found out he was in fact forging evidence. She called him over to the agency to talk late one night... And she was found dead the next morning."

"Why wasn't he suspected for killing her?" I questioned. "It seems so obvious that he did it!"

"Another member of the agency, Xavier Thurman, was arrested for it. Despite the defense and prosecution pushing for further time to investigate, it was denied by the presiding judge, Gabriel Wood. His sons, Robin and Conrad, had been kidnapped by an unknown figure and were being held hostage. Even now, neither one of them has told anyone who it was, and they aren't aware of who it was either. The case was dismissed and no killer was ever found," Detective Kraig explained.

"You think the kidnapper was the victim though, don't you?" Deirdre asked.

"I do. I have no evidence, but that's what I believe. A few days later, Gabriel Wood was shot dead in the middle of judging another trial. The defendant was Antonio Emsthorpe, who was there to see the trial of his son, Augustus Emsthorpe. His son was arrested for petty theft, a crime he didn't commit. Wattson's other lawyers took on the case with hopes of defending him, but they didn't wind up winning the case. The judge had been paid by Clarence to find the defendant guilty. Everyone in the room was sure he had done it, but he got off easily thanks to paying the judge a high fee. A few years later, Antonio Emsthorpe was executed. Augustus angrily created the Emsthorpe crime ring in hopes of getting revenge on the legal system, and one day, the one who caused his father to be locked away," Detective Kraig finished.

"That's all that happened then," I sighed with a shake of my head. "That's unbelievable."

"Actually, there's a little more to it, and I think this is another reason Toby is being suspected. Not only did Clarence kill Amelia, but he also killed Toby's mother," Detective Kraig frowned. "After Gabriel Wood was shot, the culprit tried to escape and was chased by my wife, a bailiff at the time. She followed him but was stabbed to death so he could get away. Nobody knew who the assailant was, but the confession confirmed it was Clarence who murdered her to aid in his escape."

Victoria gasped. "That's horrible! He caused countless people to be arrested for crimes they didn't commit, and on top of that, he killed three people!" she cried in shock. 

"I can assure you that nobody wanted to be associated with him after these allegations of murder rose up. He got what he wanted though. His evidence forging secret remained a secret, and he became well-known for his guilty verdicts. There was no evidence we had to show he was lying about everything up until recently... You can thank Oracle for that. A letter was sent to Toby saying that Clarence had been forging evidence for quite some time. I imagine they only got away with it since they watched from a distance. That letter was enough to confirm longtime suspicions. It sparked a fire in Toby. He started looking more into Clarence, and soon enough, he had what he needed. Clarence was found guilty of evidence forgery, putting him in prison. The statute of limitations has long since run out on our ability to prosecute him for the three murders from all those years ago, but we could still prosecute him for his recent crimes, and so that's what we did," Detective Kraig told her.

"What happened to all the people involved with the Wattson Law Offices?" I asked.

"Well, the owner, as you already know, died when Clarence pursued her. As for her co-workers, Bernadette Rivera left and founded her own law agency, unable to stay in the same place where her boss had been brutally murdered. Xavier Thurman moved out of the city. Nobody knows quite what happened to him, but he's not around here anymore, that's for sure. Richard Devine, the youngest of the group, was killed by the Emsthorpe crime group. The same fate befell Bernadette's daughter when she got too close. Bernadette is the only one you'd easily be able to contact on the matter, but even she doesn't like talking about what happened all those years ago," Detective Kraig explained.

"What about the other people they defended? I'm sure one of them will have something to tell us, right?" Deirdre questioned.

"Robin Wood became a well-known judge following the death of his father. He also established a company to gather information on the Emsthorpe group. His wife, the second client of the agency, a woman named Alianna, was killed when the Emsthorpes first appeared about thirteen years ago. The first client of the agency, a young woman named Melinda, married Robin's brother, Conrad, who later took up the information company following Robin's death two or three years ago. They're currently looking for information about various things and selling it in times of need. I can't be positive, but if I had to guess, I'd say they're also trying to find out about the Emsthorpes," Detective Kraig answered.

"Is anyone else involved with them we could easily talk to?" Victoria asked next.

"There's the prosecutor who took on all the cases of the Wattson agency. His name is Luis Cruz. He still works down at the Prosecutor's Office if you want to go talk to him about it. I doubt he'll want to open up, but he might with some persuasion," Detective Kraig replied.

"Wait... Cruz? Would he be related to Vito Cruz?" I wondered. I didn't know any men named Luis Cruz, but I certainly knew Vito Cruz, who had prosecuted a few of our cases over at the agency.

"He is, as a matter of fact. Luis is Vito's father. I highly doubt Luis will want to talk about what happened back there though. After all, I believe he was in love with Amelia up until her death at the hands of Clarence... A lot of people had a bone to pick with the victim. I doubt any of them would have resorted to murder though. The confession in the notebook stayed quiet among the police force, so I don't know how it would have spread to reach them," Detective Kraig frowned.

"That's one of the reasons Detective Erikson is being suspected then. He's one of the few people who would know about the written confession," I sighed with a shake of my head. "That's going to be a hard one to crack in court. If not many people heard about the motive, we can't really pin it on someone else."

"Is there anything else you want to tell us about what happened back then?" Deirdre questioned.

"Well... There is one thing that's been bothering me, if I'm being honest," Detective Kraig frowned. "Where do you work at? What agency, I mean."

"Um... We're all employed at Morix Law Offices. It's owned by Cotoli Morix," Victoria explained. "Why do you ask?"

Detective Kraig shook his head. "I knew it... After Amelia was killed in her own agency all those years ago, the place went abandoned. The Antonio Emsthorpe case was left unsolved, and they all went their separate ways. Bernadette established her own agency. Xavier left town. Richard was killed in his quest to chase the Emsthorpes. The building was left alone for many years. Nobody wanted to move into a place rumored to house the ghost of Amelia Wattson," he told us.

"But what does that have to do with us?" I asked.

"Toby has been to your agency a few times, though it's been a while... I assume you met Mukuro, my granddaughter. Well, she's good friends with someone who works at the agency," Detective Kraig began. 

"That must be Chrysalis," Deirdre realized. "That would explain why she was asking for her when she came in to ask us to help her father."

"Regardless of who it is, Mukuro is friends with one of the workers at the agency. Toby drops her off to hang out sometimes, though due to her combat training as of late, it hasn't happened much... He knows the building. It's the same one as the old Wattson Law Offices," Detective Kraig frowned. "It appears you're the spiritual successors of the agency from before."

I gasped to myself. "That explains so much!" I cried out. "I can't believe I never thought about this before! Granted, I didn't know to think about it this way, but the point still stands!"

"What makes so much sense?" Victoria asked me.

"It all goes back to when I started working at the agency three years ago or so. Venus had been arrested and then acquitted thanks to Mr. Morix and Chrysalis. I wanted to pay back the help he had done us by working in his agency, so I started to work with them. When I first mentioned being interested, Chrysalis said the agency was haunted. I thought it was a joke at the time, but it probably wasn't," I explained.

"I think I heard something similar when I first came to the agency. It was the day I was introduced to Lily and Chrysalis. You were arrested for the murder of Buff Guiy at the time," Deirdre murmured. "Chrysalis mentioned the agency was haunted then too. Lily agreed that something about the agency felt off to her."

"I bet it's because they're both spirit mediums. If they have spiritual power, they could easily feel something off, such as the lingering spirit of a murdered defense attorney who once owned the same building," I realized. "It makes sense."

"Her murder was left unresolved. It wouldn't surprise me if that made her want to stick around and wait for someone to learn more about her murder," Detective Kraig commented. "It wouldn't be too far out of the realm of possibility."

"You believe that spiritual stuff just like that? Right off the bat?" I asked in shock. 

"I took on a case once where a spirit medium was arrested. I suppose I learned to get used to things that initially seem impossible... That was one of the Wattson Law Offices cases, as a matter of fact. I do feel bad for poor Alianna though... She was murdered when the Emsthorpes first appeared..." Detective Kraig said.

"Alianna?" Victoria echoed.

"She married Robin Wood. When the Emsthrope group started to make a name for themselves, they murdered many important legal figures back to back. Alianna, the wife of a famous judge, was one of their targets. About a decade later, her husband met the same fate," Detective Kraig explained.

"Wood... They're related to Prosecutor Niamh Wood if I recall correctly," Deirdre said.

"They are. I've done some research of my own on the matter. She's their daughter. Now, she has another home, and hopefully it's enough to keep her safe from whatever outside forces are after her family," Detective Kraig told her.

"Maybe we should ask her about if she knows anything on the matter," I suggested.

"Shouldn't we stay focused on the case at hand?" Victoria asked.

"I don't see why we can't break the mold a little bit to look into this. It's not like there's much we can learn about this case from here on out. We investigated the crime scene. It was boring. We talked to the witness. He seems happy to help. All we need to do is check out this written confession. After that, we can track down Prosecutor Wood and get her to tell us whatever she knows about the Emsthorpe family," I told her.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt too much... Alright. Perhaps it's time for us to head to the victim's cell to see this written confession of his," Victoria said.

"I can do you one better," Detective Kraig cut in. "The people involved with the case were given a photocopy of the sheet the victim confessed to his crimes on. I have the official list in his handwriting on hand."

Detective Kraig looked around the investigation room for a moment before finding a stack of papers with his eyes. "Here it is," he murmured, crossing the room to the corner. He picked up a page and handed it to Deirdre. "You'll find the full list on there. I doubt you'll find much of note in his cell. The police already went through the place and didn't find anything. Apparently, that notebook is all that was found in there outside of what's in every other cell."

"Good to know we can cross that place off our list of places to investigate," I grinned. "So, Deirdre? What's on there?"

"He confessed to the murders of Amelia Wattson, Melissa Erikson, and Gabriel Wood, first and foremost," Deirdre said. "There's also a bunch of evidence forgeries on here. There are too many cases to count. I can't even begin to tally up how many case codes there are on this page alone..."

"He forged evidence on nearly every case he was put on. It's a travesty, to say the least," Detective Kraig told her. "He did all this to keep up his perfect win record."

"What do you know about how he was caught?" Victoria questioned.

"The letter saying he was guilty was sent to Toby. It was signed from Oracle. No fingerprints or other traces of DNA were lifted from the paper. In fact, it was done by typewriter, making it impossible to trace any handwriting," Detective Kraig explained.

"Typewriter? Aren't those extinct?" I joked.

"I mean, it makes sense. If someone came close to figuring out who Oracle was, they could ask for an analysis on a computer to see if a document with such a letter was found. Plus, a written letter can allow handwriting to be traced. A typewriter is the safest option, in that respect," Deirdre explained to me.

"It sounds like Oracle planned this pretty far ahead," Victoria muttered with a shake of her head. "I don't know much about them, but I must say that I'm impressed."

"Toby took this as proof that he should pursue the case once again. Oracle also said he had forged evidence on a recent case for theft," Detective Kraig continued. He grabbed another paper from the stack in the corner and gave this page to Victoria. I would have joked about being insulted over not receiving a paper, but this didn't feel like the right time or atmosphere to say such a thing.

"'Prosecutor Alphonse Clarence forged evidence in the recent trial of Deffen Dante. He falsified the piece of evidence the suspect allegedly stole. Take him to court and then prison. Sincerely, Oracle'," Victoria read. "Wow."

"This is going to be a complicated case, isn't it?" I commented.

"I have faith you'll take care of things. You're good attorneys," Detective Kraig smiled. "I've heard of your past jobs. You know what you're doing."

"I'm glad to have the vote of confidence," I said happily. "Do you know who the prosecutors are?"

"Not yet. I'm afraid they haven't come around to question me yet. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say the chief prosecutor is still trying to figure out who will take on the case. It was a recent crime, after all," Detective Kraig said. 

"In that case, I guess we can use this to our advantage. We might be even more prepared for the trial than the prosecution. I'm going to take that as a good omen from whatever higher power exists out there," I grinned.

"I wonder if there's a way to get in contact with Prosecutor Wood," Deirdre murmured.

"Who is this Prosecutor Wood?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, that's right. You haven't met her yet," I recalled. 

"We're going to go and find her. Thanks for talking to us," Deirdre told Detective Kraig.

"It was my pleasure. Take care of Toby for me, will you?" Detective Kraig questioned.

"We'll make sure he's out of there in no time," I assured him. "See you tomorrow!"

We left the interrogation room and walked out into the hallway. "Okay, so about Prosecutor Wood," I began, "she's a prosecutor around my age. She's a prodigy in her field who began her work recently."

"She must be a prodigy to start working as a prosecutor so young," Victoria said in shock. "So, you think she'll be able to help us find the truth behind this case?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if she knew something about the Emsthorpe group. Her parents were involved with them before their murders at their hands," Deirdre told her.

"I hope she's willing to open up about it," I sighed. "I know she can get a bit cagey at times if you try and confront her. I hope that doesn't happen this time though. I can't make things go one way or another, but I guess I can pray."

"I suppose we should go and see her then," Victoria nodded. She started down the hallway so we could go for the front of the prison, but she stopped dead in her tracks.

I looked past her to see why she had paused so suddenly. I saw the reason quickly. It was a person standing in our pathway. It looked to be a young woman wearing all black. I couldn't see her face all that well. She stared us down for a few moments, and it was then that I realized who she was.

This woman had to be the person who had been lurking around the prison, and as far as I could tell, she was our number one suspect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm being perfectly honest, this case is probably my favorite up to this point in SBS.
> 
> I mean, the first two cases are just fine, but this one is going to top them both. So far, it's been mostly exposition and world-building, but it does have a point. I promise. Also, yes, the agency is haunted. Amelia is ghosting it up in there. She canonically lurks around and has a fun time watching them.
> 
> -Digital


	13. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 3

**April 1**

**Investigation Room No. 1**

**4:00 PM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

The woman continued to stare at us for a moment or two longer, and I got a better look at her the longer I gazed. Her hair was a brown color, though not much of it could be seen behind her black hood. I saw something shine around her eyes, which were hidden by the shadow of her hood as well. She looked me over as well before turning and leaving.

Victoria, Yuri, and I shared a brief glance before following after her. She had a considerable head start, so we had to go fast. She was nimble, easily slipping in between any people that crossed her path. A few times, she looked back to see if we were still there, but she never got into a full out sprint. Instead, she was merely walking, waiting for us to catch up.

The woman turned around a corner and seemed to disappear shortly after. I looked around, hoping I could catch a glance of her once again, but she was gone. I let out a sigh and shook my head.

"Um... What are you doing here?"

I looked around upon hearing the voice. Soon after, I realized who had spoken. It was Prosecutor Wood. She was holding a book to her chest tightly as she looked up at me. 

"Hello, Prosecutor Wood," I said with a small bow of my head. "I didn't expect to see you here. Do you need something?"

Prosecutor Wood shook her head. "N-No... What's wrong? You look like you're trying to find someone," she frowned.

"Did you happen to see a woman with brown hair come through here? She should have been wearing all black and hiding her face," Yuri told her.

"No, I didn't... I just got here myself. I needed to drop something off for Da--erm, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. Prosecutor Lin wanted me to give him something. Apparently, he left something back at the Prosecutor's Office," Prosecutor Wood explained.

"Is he the prosecutor on this case?" I asked.

Prosecutor Wood nodded. "Yeah... He's working with Anton. You know him, right?" she questioned.

"Of course. He's small and cute. He's Anton," Yuri grinned.

Prosecutor Wood looked at us for a moment before noticing Victoria. "I-I don't believe we've met before... My name is Niamh Wood. I'm a prosecutor," she said nervously.

"I'm Victoria von Graye. I'm a new attorney working at Morix Law Offices," Victoria explained. "It's nice to meet you."

"Come to think of it, Chrysalis mentioned a while ago that new people were coming to the agency," Prosecutor Wood murmured.

"Do you know where she is? Mukuro came by earlier asking for her, but we can't really point her in the right direction, I'm afraid," Yuri told her.

"I don't remember seeing her today... Sorry about that," Prosecutor Wood replied. 

"It's okay. We wanted to talk to you about a few other things either way, if that's alright," I cut in. "We heard about details regarding this case from the witness, and we figured you might know something else about the motive behind the crime."

"The motive? What do I have to do with the motive?" Prosecutor Wood questioned. I noticed her face getting paler, which made me feel bad. Perhaps I had been too forward with her...

Yuri rubbed at the back of her neck. "It's kind of a long story... Basically, the victim here did a lot of bad stuff that caused an assassin ring to form. I guess we can all look at this in two ways. First and foremost, we can say that it's awful that this guy messed up that badly. On the other hand, we can console ourselves and say at least we won't mess up badly enough to cause a criminal organization to come into existence, right?" she joked.

"I'm confused," Prosecutor Wood whispered with a shake of her head. "Can you start from the beginning?"

"We want to know if you know anything about the Emsthorpe crime ring. That's the short version of it. We talked to the witness, and he thinks that you might know something about it. If you have any details at all, those would help a lot. Don't hold anything back," I explained.

Prosecutor Wood looked down with a frown. One arm was still clutching at the book in her arms, but her other hand reached up to one of her braids. She began to tug on it. "I... Um... I don't think I should be talking about this... I don't know anything about them. Can I go now?" she asked. 

"You know, if you say it like that, you aren't going to convince us. All we hear from that is that you definitely know something. You don't need to hold anything back, Prosecutor Wood. We know what we're doing," Yuri assured her, placing one hand on her shoulder. 

"Still, it just isn't something I want to think about. Besides, they're dangerous. I know you aren't aware of the full scope of their existence, but... Leave it alone. It's for your own good," Prosecutor Wood pushed. "I can't tell you anything else. It's too risky for us all."

"You aren't even trying to hide the fact that you know something now," Victoria murmured. "You don't need to be so closed off from us. We want to help you."

An idea formed in my head. "You know, Prosecutor Wood... Holding things in like this is dangerous for your mental state. It's not good for you. I think it would be much better for you and everyone else if you talked about it, even if it's just a little," I told her.

"I'd rather put my mental health at risk than everyone else's physical health," Prosecutor Wood muttered unhappily.

"I know my way around psychology, you know. I can be your personal therapist for the next few minutes if you so wish. All you need to do is tell us what you know. It's important for figuring out the truth behind this case. We don't want the culprit escaping, do we?" I asked.

Prosecutor Wood hesitated at this phrase. She glanced around, as if hoping Yuri or Victoria would provide her with a way out. She let out a sigh and shook her head. "Fine, fine... I'll tell you everything," she grumbled. "It's not something you want to hear though... I just want to warn you..."

"It's okay. Like she said, we need it if we're going to solve this case, so even if you're worried, we need to hear about it," Yuri reminded her.

"Alright... I get it. I'll tell you what you want to know. Where should I start?" Prosecutor Wood questioned.

"What do you know about the Emsthorpes?" I asked her.

"I didn't initially know about them... It wasn't until after I moved into town around about three years ago now," Prosecutor Wood began. "Up until then, I had been living at a boarding school for talented students. I was invited to get some real-world prosecuting experience due to my prowess with investigation, so I came here to see about working at the Prosecutor's Office."

"Wait... But wouldn't you have been about twelve at that point?" I wondered in shock. "I don't mean to be rude, but how could a kid that young show prowess with investigating? When I was twelve, all I really knew how to investigate was how long I could play on my phone before I got in trouble for staying up after my bedtime."

"Well... Let's put it this way... An incident made me want to leave the school, so I came here to see about getting prosecuting experience. I wanted to start young, I suppose," Prosecutor Wood answered. Her shoulders were tense, and I was already getting the feeling she wasn't going to want to talk about this for much longer. It was an uncomfortable subject, and it was already a miracle we were getting her to say anything about the Emsthorpes, so I didn't want to push what little leeway we had away from our favor.

"Anyways, we should keep going," I said, hoping Yuri's question hadn't completely driven her away from answering us. 

"Y-Yes, of course... Well, after I moved around here, I was living with a family near here. The Wakutas... They're not important. The point is, while I was there, a lot of incidents were taking place. I would later learn the Emsthorpes were trying to eliminate any people who were investigating them. I received a letter saying I would be able to get official experience with prosecuting if I went to a building where a bunch of famous judges worked... I was young and stupid, so I believed it," Prosecutor Wood murmured with a shake of her head.

"Had you not gotten any experience up to this point?" Victoria asked.

"No, not particularly. I may have been living in the city, but I hadn't been able to get somebody to mentor me yet. It wouldn't be for a while that I actually got around to finding a mentor," Prosecutor Wood explained. "Anyways, I followed the letter and went to the building. I found out I had been locked in with a few other people... That was when I met him..."

Prosecutor Wood paused for a while after that, which prompted me to speak up. "Him?" I questioned. I already had a bad feeling about this man.

"Yes... Robin Wood..." Prosecutor Wood whispered. She hesitated for a while longer once again before sighing and managing to push out her words. "He introduced himself when we first met... He said he was my father."

"Did you believe him?" Yuri asked.

"Well... At first, I was a bit unsure. I hadn't ever known my father. I lived with my aunt before going to that boarding school I mentioned earlier. I had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth or not. I wound up deciding to trust him since I didn't have much of a choice. We were stuck together in a building I was unfamiliar with, and he seemed to know what he was doing. Together, we wandered around with hopes of finding a way out, but that never happened," Prosecutor Wood continued.

"What happened then?" Victoria pressed.

"We were ambushed by an older man. He looked to be about my father's age. He revealed himself to be Augustus Emsthorpe, the leader of the Emsthorpe crime ring. Since my father was an important judge, he was a target of the assassins... In the fifteen minutes or so that followed, Augustus killed my father by slitting his throat. He cut my eye, resulting in a scar over the top... My father managed to shoot him with a gun, but the bullet didn't kill him. Instead, it bounced off his skull. He still has the injury to this day as far as I'm aware. He's never been declared dead," Prosecutor Wood wen ton.

"That's horrible!" Yuri cried out. "Are you alright now? Do you need any comforting, Prosecutor Wood?"

Prosecutor Wood's face went bright pink. "I'm not a child, you know. I can take care of myself," she said softly with a shake of her head.

"Is that all you know about the Emsthorpes?" Victoria questioned.

"Pretty much," Prosecutor Wood nodded. "After that, I didn't hear much about them. I wasn't even aware they were the ones behind the recent string of killings. Well, it was recent at the time. Augustus Emsthorpe admitted to it when he killed my father, and that's what the police have officially put on their records..."

"Can you describe him in more detail for us? What did he look like?" Yuri asked.

"I can try... Police records don't have much on the Emsthorpe family. My memory of my father's death is somewhat fuzzy though... I lost a lot of blood when he hit my eye," Prosecutor Wood murmured.

"Can we see your eye?" Yuri wondered. She seemed to realize what she had said may have crossed a line, so she quickly corrected it. "Well, if you're okay with showing us. If not, that's okay too. I don't want to force you or anything."

Prosecutor Wood shook her head. "No, it's alright. I don't mind at all... I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about it though. I don't need anybody to be worrying about me," she said.

With that, she pulled her hair away from her face, revealing the eye her bangs had been hiding up until now. Sure enough, it was scarred. It looked like a knife strike had torn that segment of her face in half. Her eye was obviously unseeing, judging by the way it was shut. I thought I was used to seeing gore and such from being an attorney, but this was something I hadn't ever anticipated.

Yuri paused before pulling her own hair away from her face. A similar scar was on her eye, though hers was on the right as opposed to Prosecutor Wood's left. "Sucks, huh?" she joked, though her voice was serious despite this jab.

Prosecutor Wood quickly put her hair back in place with a small nod. "I-I remember he was tall. As for his hair color... That part is fuzzy. He was strong. He had muscle on him... His eyes looked so full of hate... He was mad with power and lust for bloodshed..." she murmured.

"You look pale," Victoria remarked. Sure enough, she was right. Prosecutor Wood's face was quickly losing its color the longer she thought about Augustus Emsthorpe. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I think we can stop there," I told Prosecutor Wood gently, placing one hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for everything you've told us."

"I-It's my pleasure," Prosecutor Wood muttered. "I-I should probably go drop this off with Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. I'm sure he's wondering what's keeping me so long."

"Have a nice day, Prosecutor Wood!" Yuri called after her as Prosecutor Wood left us behind. Despite the conversation having come to an end, the prosecutor still seemed distressed about what we had been discussing. I couldn't exactly blame her. It seemed to be a subject of major trauma for her. I was glad we had been careful not to push any memories too far though, as that would have only made things worse for her and us.

"Do you think we learned enough from her testimony?" Victoria questioned. "I'm confused. I don't know what we'll be able to use that information for. Right now, we have no confirmation on who a suspect could be. Besides, that description of the assassin... It doesn't at all match our concept of the woman in black. Speaking of, we have no idea where she ran off to."

"I'm sure there's some relevance behind it. I guess it's a gut feeling telling me such," I shrugged. I couldn't really place my sensation that this would be important either, but I was going to follow it. My intuition hadn't failed me yet, and so I was going to let it continue to guide me until things went sour. 

"Well, perhaps we should continue our investigation. I don't really know what we're going to do from here on out, but looking for that weird woman would be a good place to start," Yuri suggested.

"I would have to agree," Victoria nodded. "It's like she vanished into thin air. She came around this corner and just disappeared."

"We're near the center of the prison now. We're far from any cells, so I somewhat doubt she had much of a place to hide... All these doors say important personnel only, which means we can't get inside unless we can get somebody to let us in. I get the feeling saying it's for the investigation won't fly so far from the crime scene," Yuri frowned.

"The prison is split into two different parts. On one half, you have the detention center where suspects awaiting trial are kept. This was where the crime scene was since the interrogation rooms are also on that side. She led us into the prison. I suppose Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was investigating over here, which would explain why Prosecutor Wood came over... We've already heard from the witness that she's probably not a prison guard since she lacks a uniform. It seems we have quite the conundrum on our hands," I said.

"Let's look around this hallway. There has to be something around here we can use to figure out where that woman went off to... People can't just disappear into thin air," Victoria pointed out.

I nodded my agreement. I glanced around the hallway, which was rather empty. I suppose that made sense. Any prisoners on this side of the building wouldn't exactly be allowed to wander around and do as they pleased. There weren't any guards around either, which meant it would be hard for our mystery woman to get help from somebody else to escape our pursuit. 

"I don't get it. She couldn't have poofed out of existence. Magic doesn't exist," Victoria frowned.

"Is spirit channeling magic?" Yuri wondered, looking up at me. I shrugged in response. I wasn't what you would call an expert on the matter. If she wanted to know for sure, she would have to ask Lily or Chrysalis, and we didn't even know where the latter was. 

"Wait... I think I found something!" Victoria gasped. She dashed across the hallway. I noticed the faint outline of a door on the wall. Next to it was a box shut by a lock. 

"That's odd... Maybe she went in there... Though the lock would require a key... On second thought, she had enough distance on us to open the lock and get inside," I told them.

"I don't think the lock is really the way in though. If it was, you would see it on the door itself, but it's not on the door. It's on the box beside the door. Maybe the box has something like an invisibility cloak or something," Yuri joked.

"I highly doubt that. We should try and figure out how to get into this box," Victoria suggested. "What if there's a keypad or something under it that lets you get into the room?"

"But if there was a keypad, why not just use a keypad? It's impossible to guess combinations if you have the right number of characters to choose from. Plus, that seems a lot easier to call normal than a random locked box on a wall in the middle of a prison," Yuri sighed.

"I wonder if the point is to hide the keypad or whatever it is that's under this box... I mean, if you look closely, there are boxes like this all over the prison to hide different things. For example, there are boxes around fire alarms up on the wall, though those you can see through. Plus, I'm sure you noticed them outside the interrogation rooms. I bet it's to keep some people who would act out away from whatever is inside," I pointed out.

"Come to think of it, these boxes were outside the interrogation rooms... I guess it's not so abnormal after all," Yuri shrugged. "I still think it's a little weird, but what can you do about it?"

"I wonder if we could find that woman again... If we could, we could enter this room. As it is now, I would have to guess that she disappeared inside that door. It's only an assumption, but it's all we really have to hold onto. Besides, a random locked door in the prison is sure to raise some suspicions," I said. "I highly doubt any other prison workers could help us get inside."

"What makes you say that?" Yuri questioned.

"Well, that woman didn't seem to work here. It makes you wonder if what's on the other side of this door is meant to be hidden from whoever works at the prison. I don't understand it much either, but I guess it would work out if somebody really wanted it to. The warden of the prison would know how to get inside, if I had to wager a guess, but I don't know if he'd even want to let us inside..." Victoria pointed out.

"What I'm hearing is that if we talk about this weird room much more, I'm going to get a headache... We seem to have two theories in constant battle. This room is meant to keep prison workers out, so only that woman can get in. On the other hand, it could have been put here by the warden of the prison or the builders to hide something specific, and she just happened to slip inside despite not working here," Yuri summarized.

"That sounds about right. I can't think of anything else to explain the existence of this door... However, that doesn't change the fact that we still can't get inside. There's not really anything we can do about it now," Victoria sighed.

"There is one thing," I murmured. "If she hid in that room, she's got to still be inside. If we wait here for a while, maybe she'll come out. After all, if somebody goes inside, they have to come out sooner or later, right?"

"In other words, if we just wait out here, she might come out and talk to us about if she saw anything! That's brilliant!" Yuri cried.

"I can't say for sure if the prosecution got the chance to talk to her. I feel like our witness from before would have noticed if they were talking at all, and yet, he said nothing... Maybe she's been deliberately avoiding everyone. It wouldn't surprise me given the weird way she's been acting," Victoria said next.

"I think we should go over the details we have for the case so far. If she happens to come out while we're talking, then bonus," Yuri suggested.

I nodded and began to lean up against the wall near us next to the door. If we were going to be here for a while, I might as well get comfy. "The crime took place this morning. The defendant, Toby Erikson, was interrogating the victim, Alphonse Clarence. The latter had recently been convicted of evidence forgery in his time as a prosecutor," I began.

"He wrote in a notebook in his cell that he had killed three people, those being Amelia Wattson, Melissa Erikson, and Gabriel Wood, over twenty years ago. He couldn't be prosecuted for those crimes due to the statute of limitations being up, which meant he was in the clear. Only his evidence forging could get him in prison," Yuri continued. 

"According to the police, Detective Erikson interrogated him and poisoned him with cyanide. The victim died due to the poison while the defendant fell unconscious. Apparently, somebody entered the crime scene with two cups of tea, though we don't have a solid description of them yet," Victoria went on.

"This person was a man, according to Detective Erikson. He was wearing a prison uniform, making it likely he was a guard of some sort," I said next. "Detective Erikson fell unconscious only to be woken up later by his father, Kraig Erikson. The victim had already been found dead by the witness by this point."

"The police found the bottle of cyanide used to poison the victim in Detective Erikson's pocket with his fingerprints on it, making it seem like he committed the crime. However, if he fell unconscious, it seems unlikely that he killed the victim. He wouldn't drug himself or anything, right?" Yuri pointed out.

"There wasn't much of anything to note at the scene of the crime, so we had to talk to other people to get more information. We heard the details behind the murders from when the victim was free and still working as a prosecutor. He killed Amelia Wattson when she grew too close to finding out about his evidence forging, which is the supposed motive behind this case," Victoria said.

"I don't think we're going to be able to do much to disprove the motive behind this murder. I mean, it's pretty clear that a lot of people had quiet enmity for him. He got away with three murders and forged evidence countless times as a prosecutor. He let many killers get away in a time when false charges were on the rise. Many innocent people were charged with crimes or even executed under his work, which means anybody who knew someone he convicted would have a motive to lash out against him," Yuri sighed.

"It'll be hard to pin down a specific person, but I think we're still in luck here. If many people didn't like him, then it means there are a lot of people to look to as suspects. It'll be hard to narrow it down much further, but all we really need is a base to go off for the time being," I pointed out.

"If we're going to try and find the killer in one day, how would we pin someone down?" Victoria asked.

"I don't think we'll be able to find them in one day. I think what we really need to do is find a witness and talk to them. If they fit the description of the person Detective Erikson told us about, then we can try and record their voice. You heard him earlier. He said he doesn't know how to describe them in words, but he would know their voice if he heard it," I told her. 

"A voice? Huh... Well, we haven't run into any other important witnesses behind this case, which makes that hard. If we point this out in court tomorrow, maybe we'll get lucky and be granted another day to investigate," Yuri remarked. "I think that's our main hope at the moment."

"The voice sounded masculine to him, if I recall correctly. That takes our mystery woman off the table, but I get the feeling she's still important to the case. I don't want to let her go just yet. Speaking of, it would be nice and convenient if she decided to come out of the secret room she's hiding in now," Victoria sighed.

"I don't think that's going to work... All we can do now is go into the trial and hope we can get another day. Luckily for us, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke isn't like the victim. He's not going to forge evidence to get a falsely guilty verdict. That's one of the things that makes him so well-liked," Yuri smiled. "He's a good guy. I may not talk to him as much anymore, but I have faith in him. He got where he is now because he's a good prosecutor, not because he's a liar and a scoundrel."

"I suppose we can take solace in that much then... I'm still unfamiliar with the way things work here, I'm afraid. It will take me quite some time to fall into the routine you're so used to over here. Trials in Germany are not like this, I'm afraid," Victoria told us with a small awkward smile. 

"That's okay. You get used to the train wreck that is our legal system soon enough, even if it does take some time. I mean, it's so bad that we need Oracle to keep things under control," Yuri joked despite the dark subject.

"Oracle... I haven't heard much about them. I know they're a spy, but I'll need you two to fill in any other details I wouldn't be generally aware of. We don't have such a thing where I'm from, and even if I've been here for a few months, I haven't been told what they do," Victoria frowned.

"I think we can do that pretty easily," Yuri smiled. "Okay, so Oracle is a spy who's been trying to solve legal corruption around here for about three years now. There have been a lot of false charges and wrongful convictions, and they try to solve those. Plus, if there are high-up figures abusing their power, they find out and expose this abuse to the public. It's sparked a huge debate about if what they're doing is truly right or not."

"I see... So, they're like a legal superhero?" Victoria laughed.

"In a way, yes," Yuri giggled. "They were the one who sent the note to Detective Erikson about the evidence forgeries of the victim. Up until then, people were suspicious of him but had no real evidence. Oracle's involvement was enough to push things over the edge and start an investigation."

"So far, Oracle hasn't been wrong about somebody acting against the law, so they've got quite the good reputation around here," I continued to explain. "However, they're not really someone to get wrapped up with. Their works is risky in many ways."

"It still sounds cool in a way," Victoria admitted. "Thank you for telling me."

We were quiet for another few moments after that. I looked to the door and sighed. "It appears she won't be coming out after all. That's unfortunate for us," I murmured with a shake of my head.

"In that case, we can just go back to the agency. I don't see us having much of a choice in the matter," Yuri sighed. "Let's get going."

With that said, we started walking for the entrance of the prison. I shot Victoria a few glances on the way out. Despite her curiosity involving Oracle, she didn't seem to be openly hostile, which was good with me. I got the feeling she would have to find out eventually. It was why she was brought into the agency. Mr. Morix wanted to end corruption in the legal system as much as his sister did. Victoria would hear the truth one day, and I already got the feeling she would be better at handling it than Cormous. 

Even if I hadn't known her long, I already knew she was going to be a strong part of our working environment down at the agency. I could say that with certainty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to post this quickly so I can get to lunch oops
> 
> -Digital


	14. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 4

**April 2**

**Defendant Lobby No. 3**

**9:30 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

The next morning, I arrived in the defendant's lobby on the earlier side. I began to look through the case details, Yuri at my side. She had come with me that morning to get to the courthouse, giving us a chance to talk about things in more detail.

"I don't think we can really consider this case closed in one day," Yuri told me as we sat down on the couch. "I mean, we need to find a way to investigate that door."

"If we arrive on the earlier side, maybe we can catch that woman before she goes inside. If we can do that, then we may be able to convince her to let us inside. Even if it winds up being unimportant, it's something worth checking out, wouldn't you agree?" I asked.

"I think so too. If she tells us what's on the other side of that door, we can look around and see what it is she's hiding inside. Bringing up this door should be a good idea, don't you think?" Yuri prompted.

I hesitated here. "I don't know... I mean, if that's the case, then we could wind up with police officers surrounding it. I think all we need to do is point out that the woman exists and was lurking around the prison. If we're lucky, maybe we can get the prosecution to admit they didn't get to question her. That would leave a point open for us to look into at a later date, which is just what we want," I said.

"That sounds like a good idea too!" Yuri chirped. "All we need at this point is for Victoria to come. We can tell her about our maniacal evil scheme when she arrives."

I sighed and shook my head. "Maniacal evil scheme? I don't think that's anywhere close to what we've been getting up to," I frowned.

"Maybe not, but it sounds cooler saying it that way than calling it a courtroom strategy. Wouldn't you tend to agree?" Yuri questioned.

Hesitantly, I let out a small laugh. "You may have a point there," I admitted, putting one hand on her hand to ruffle her hair. Yuri giggled in response.

"Good to see you two are having a nice time."

I gasped upon seeing Mr. Morix appear in front of us. He was standing with Chrysalis, who was silent as usual. I was somewhat surprised to see her here. After her odd disappearance, I didn't expect to see her here of all places.

"Hey there," Yuri grinned, getting to her feet. "Chrysalis, Mukuro was looking for you yesterday. Where did you go?"

Chrysalis shrugged. "I guess I was around," she said simply. I could tell by her tone that she wasn't planning on saying much of anything beyond that. If there was one thing I knew Chrysalis to be, it was secretive.

"Can you tell us?" Yuri pressed. "I promise we won't tell anybody else!"

Chrysalis opened her mouth, but she never got the chance to speak. She was ultimately cut off when Victoria suddenly, and rather loudly burst into the room.

"Sorry I'm late!" Victoria cried, running towards us. "I got stuck in traffic, and after that there weren't any parking spaces. I didn't mean to hold you guys up because I messed things up."

"It's fine, Victoria," I assured her. "There's nothing to worry about."

Victoria didn't seem to buy my passing it off so easily. She frowned and shook her head. "Anyways, we should probably talk about our plan for the trial, right? We want to know what we're doing before we get in there, don't we?" she asked.

"We're going to try and hold off the verdict for another day," Yuri told her. "There's still a few loose ends for us to tie up involving the case. For example, we don't know who that mystery woman was."

"What about the room she was hiding in? Should we bring that up?" Victoria questioned.

"We're not going to mention it. I'm sure the police will swarm it if we bring it up," I told her. "Trust us. We know what we're doing here."

"Well... You guys are the ones with experience," Victoria shrugged. "I trust you."

"I agree with your decision to not tell anyone about the room," Chrysalis said, finally speaking up. "It's best to keep it on the down low."

I frowned. "Chrysalis, how do you know about the room?" I asked. "Did you hear the details from somewhere?"

Chrysalis opened her mouth once again to give an answer, but she was cut off a second time by the noisy cry of the bailiff calling us into the courtroom. She shrugged. "I'll tell you about it later," she told us instead. "Come on, Cotoli. We should go and find a place to sit in the gallery."

Mr. Morix nodded and followed her away from the area and towards the entrance to the courtroom. "I'll see you three later," he said with a small wave before vanishing from view.

"I guess she's on the quiet side," Victoria sighed with a shake of her head. "I wish she would be willing to open up to us more."

"Chrysalis is weird. That's all I really want to say on the matter," Yuri laughed. "You get used to it after a while, but at first it makes you feel kind of strange."

"I wonder what she was going to tell us about though," Victoria murmured with a shake of her head. "I guess there isn't much we can do about it right now though. Let's head on into the courtroom to take care of business."

I shot a brief glance at Yuri and frowned. "I bet I know how Chrysalis came across that information," I told her. Yuri nodded, but we didn't say anything else about it. We walked after Victoria into the courtroom, making a quiet agreement not to tell Victoria a thing about our suspicions. After all, she didn't know yet, and I wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

**April 2**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**10:00 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

The judge sitting behind the podium was Judge Diaphan, I noticed soon after arriving inside of the courtroom. Across the room stood Chief Prosecutor Bespoke and Mr. Burke. I had to admit, that was a pair I hadn't anticipated. I knew Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was on the case through Prosecutor Wood and our encounter with her the day before. As for Mr. Burke, I wasn't aware he ever took on cases with people that weren't his adoptive mother.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Toby Erikson," Judge Diaphan declared after slamming her gavel down once. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"

I looked to Yuri and Victoria before offering my response. "The defense is ready," I told her with a firm nod.

"The prosecution is also ready," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke announced with a small yawn. Mr. Burke seemed more prepared than he did, which I found odd given that Mr. Burke was so much younger than he was. For crying out loud, only one of them was a prosecutor, and it was the one who looked ready to pass out at any moment.

Judge Diaphan either didn't notice this or simply chose to ignore it. "Prosecution, please give the court your opening statement with basic details about the case," she instructed, looking over at my rivals for the day.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded despite his obvious exhaustion. "I'm on it... The crime took place in the detention center side of the prison building yesterday morning," he began. "The victim was one Alphonse Clarence, a former prosecutor and current convict in the local prison. He was arrested a few months ago on charges of evidence forgery, something he seemingly had been doing throughout his career."

"What made people aware he had been forging evidence?" Judge Diaphan asked.

"The defendant, a detective, received a letter from the Oracle of the Law. It seems Oracle had been investigating him for quite a while before finally coming to the conclusion that he had been forging evidence for much of his career as a prosecutor, which spans over twenty-five years. The defendant began to investigate it further, and he realized Oracle was correct. In the end, the victim was convicted of evidence forgery and was ultimately placed in prison for a sentence of twelve years," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke continued.

"Man, the more I hear about this guy, regardless of if I knew about it beforehand or not, I hate him even more," Yuri grumbled with a shake of her head. "Here I thought it was impossible to hate him more than I already did."

"There were many people who didn't like the victim due to his habits of forging evidence, and one of the people who hated him more than most is our defendant here," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke went on. "The statute of limitations for murder is fifteen years, meaning murderers can only be prosecuted for fifteen years after they commit the crime. This ultimately bit us in the behind due to the past crimes of the victim."

"What did the victim do?" Judge Diaphan questioned, severity in her eyes.

"A written confession was found in his cell saying he had committed three murders over twenty years ago. Those victims were Amelia Wattson, Melissa Erikson, and Gabriel Wood. The first two were related to the defendant before their untimely deaths. Amelia Wattson was a good friend while Melissa Erikson was the defendant's mother. As you can imagine, anyone would be understandable upset and angry that two people so close to them died prematurely," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained.

"And because a written confession was found, you believe the defendant committed the crime?" Judge Diaphan asked.

"The statute of limitations for murder is fifteen years. It's been longer than fifteen years since those crimes occurred, so it's impossible to prosecute the victim for those crimes. That being said, he never paid the price of taking three lives within the span of a month all those years ago. The prosecution believes the victim was killed as revenge for these three deaths all that time ago. Many people would have a motive to kill him, but the defendant has a few other things that most people don't," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke declared.

"I take it you'll explain what those things are next, yes?" Judge Diaphan prompted.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "Of course. For one, he doesn't have an alibi. He was actually with the victim at the time of the murder. The victim was poisoned to death with cyanide. The bottle of cyanide was found in the pocket of the defendant as well, almost to prove that he must have committed the crime and killed the victim. As icing on top of the cake, he was found in the room with the victim when the body was discovered," he told the judge.

"The defense maintains its position that the defendant did not commit the crime. There is evidence that points to his innocence, and we fully intend to point it out," I announced, looking over at Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. We met eyes for a moment, and I felt something odd rush through me.

"The prosecution would like to call its first witness," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said, breaking the eye contact to look up at Judge Diaphan. "If you don't mind, we want to have the detective leading the murder investigation testify about any other details leading us to believe the defendant committed the crime."

Judge Diaphan nodded. "Does the defense object to this?" she asked.

I shook my head without even needing to look at Yuri and Victoria. I knew they would agree with me anyways. This was the first step to proving that Detective Erikson didn't commit this crime, which meant it was an opportunity we had to take by the horns, especially if we wanted things to go our way and leave us with an extra day of investigation.

"In that case, go right ahead," Judge Diaphan told the prosecution.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke smirked and pointed to the stand. "You know what to do," he said.

A few seconds later, Detective Wattson appeared at the witness stand. She looked tired, which made me frown. Perhaps that was just a trend this case. It was a worrying one, and I made a mental note to ask about it when we got our second day of investigation (assuming we got it, and I was praying with all my heart for such).

"Please state your name and occupation, witness," Judge Diaphan instructed.

Detective Wattson rubbed at her eyes before speaking. "My name is Vera Wattson. I'm a detective at the local precinct. I'm the lead detective on this case too," she answered.

"Given that you're the leading detective on this case, I take it you know much about this case, yes?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked.

Detective Wattson nodded. "Yes, I do know quite a bit. If you need any details, I'm the person for you to turn to," she replied.

"In that case, tell us about what other evidence we have to point to the defendant committing the crime," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke told her.

"I'll get right to it," Detective Wattson said.

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ Other Evidence ~**

_\- "As he stated before, the main reason for him being suspected is because of the confession."_

_\- "The defendant in particular would have a motive for killing the victim due to who his victims were all those years ago."_

_\- "On top of that, he was found in the room with the body when the witness stumbled upon it."_

_\- "There was the cyanide container with his fingerprints on it in his pocket too."_

_\- "Finally, we have some testimony from the witness who discovered the body to begin with."_

_\- "He said the defendant was unconscious with the corpse when he stumbled upon the scene."_

"Detective Wattson doesn't seem quite as intent on testifying today, huh?" Yuri whispered to me with a frown. "It's like she's holding back."

"I bet it's because she and Detective Erikson are so close. I doubt she would be able to testify against him in good conscience unless she was secretly trying to help us prove he didn't commit the crime," I murmured in return.

"Do you know what we should be doing?" Victoria questioned.

I nodded, a small smirk appearing on my face. "But I don't think I should be the one to do it. After all, one of us still needs to gain experience in working as a lawyer," I told her.

Victoria froze when she realized what I was implying. "You can't be serious," she said softly.

"I am. It's a simple cross-examination. You'll be fine," I assured her.

"Is the defense ready to begin the cross-examination?" Judge Diaphan asked.

I nodded. "We'll get into it right now," I replied, looking over at Victoria. She didn't seem too happy I was suddenly springing this on her, but I knew she could do it. Plus, if she needed any help, Yuri and I would be right here, so there was no need to worry.

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ Other Evidence ~**

_\- "As he stated before, the main reason for him being suspected is because of the confession."_

_\- "The defendant in particular would have a motive for killing the victim due to who his victims were all those years ago."_

_\- "On top of that, he was found in the room with the body when the witness stumbled upon it."_

_\- "There was the cyanide container with his fingerprints on it in his pocket too."_

_\- "Finally, we have some testimony from the witness who discovered the body to begin with."_

_\- "He said the defendant was unconscious with the corpse when he stumbled upon the scene."_

"Objection!"

"I don't think the defendant could have committed the crime for that reason alone," Victoria announced. "There are other things that point to his innocence, but this is the first one I noticed."

"What does that do to show the defendant didn't commit this crime?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked, letting out yet another small yawn.

"If he was found unconscious at the scene of the crime, then how could he have possibly committed the crime? He was unconscious due to the meddling of some outside force, which would mean he likely didn't commit the crime," Victoria explained. "I don't think he would have drugged himself. That would keep him from being able to cover up for his crime."

"Maybe the person who killed the victim and drugged the defendant were two different people," Judge Diaphan pointed out.

"The defendant told us someone came in with a tray with two cups of tea on them. Perhaps the person who came into the interrogation room with that tea should be our true suspect," I suggested.

"Prisoners are allowed to order food if they pay a small fee. The victim was known for ordering tea for interrogations. The defendant often saw him asking for tea during their interrogation sessions. He would know it was coming and that it would be a good idea to drug it," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained.

"He wouldn't be the one making it though. He's not a chef at the prison. Plus, I'm sure anyone involved would be able to tell you the tea came in during the interrogation. He had an alibi for the time the victim's tea was supposedly poisoned. It's impossible for the defendant to have poisoned the victim's tea under these circumstances!" I cried out.

"I think we should look to the people who helped to prepare the tea for the victim and defendant. Both of them were laced with drugs. Anyone who handled that order from the victim is a suspect now. Remember, a lot of people didn't like the victim. Many people could have a motive similar to the one the prosecution has proposed," Victoria said, putting one hand on her chin. "We can no longer call the defendant suspect with this information."

"If that's the case, perhaps it's time for us to turn our attention elsewhere," Judge Diaphan advised. "I have no doubt either the defense or prosecution has a witness here to testify about the details of the case, or at least what they saw at the scene of the murder. Would I be correct in assuming such?"

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "We have the witness who discovered the body and the defendant, who was unconscious at the time, on hand and ready to testify. Detective Wattson, I believe we're finished with you for now. You may return to the scene of the crime. If you discover anything else, please contact us," he said.

Detective Wattson nodded and stepped down from the witness stand. She hurriedly left the courtroom, making me frown. It was obvious something was bothering her, and I felt bad there wasn't much of anything I could do about it. I would have to wait until the next time I saw her outside of the courtroom.

"Go on and call your next witness," Judge Diaphan instructed.

Mr. Burke tugged on Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's sleeve lightly. He whispered something into the man's ear, and even with my better than average hearing, I couldn't comprehend a lick of it. However, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke got it all and nodded in response before speaking. "My assistant will go and retrieve our next witness and bring him here for testimony," he declared.

Judge Diaphan nodded, but nobody said anything about it. We all stood in silence, waiting for Mr. Burke to return. Soon enough, he did, and Mr. Erikson was at his side. Mr. Burke led him up to the witness stand despite the fact it was nearly certain that Mr. Erikson knew what he was doing due to his position as a detective. It was sweet to see Mr. Burke doing such though, so I didn't speak up about it.

"Please state your name and occupation, witness," Judge Diaphan told him once the witness was settled in his place. Mr. Burke returned to his place behind the prosecution bench as she spoke.

"My name is Kraig Erikson. I'm a homicide detective working at the local precinct," Mr. Erickson answered.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to the defendant, would you?" Judge Diaphan asked. "Because if that's the case, how will we know we can trust you? You may lie to protect your family."

"He's my son," Mr. Erikson replied. "As for falsifying testimony, I would never do such a thing. I have been working in the legal system for over twenty years now. I refuse to do anything to further deteriorate our system of justice."

Judge Diaphan seemed satisfied with this answer. She nodded and began to spin her gavel over in her fingers. "I understand. Witness, please testify and tell the court about what you saw when you discovered the scene of the murder," she said firmly.

"I'll get right to it," Mr. Erikson nodded.

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ Finding the Body and Defendant ~**

_\- "I knew that my son regularly came into the prison to interrogate the victim."_

_\- "They have something of a history due to the past crimes of the victim which was mentioned earlier in the motive."_

_\- "The interrogations normally didn't last more than an hour, and I was wondering where Toby had gotten off to."_

_\- "You see, we had been planning to meet up and talk about a few things since we hadn't been given the chance to int he past few weeks."_

_\- "Since the interrogation was taking a while, I got worried, so I decided to investigate."_

_\- "I entered the interrogation room, which is when I found the victim dead and Toby unconscious."_

_\- "I shook Toby awake and called for help. I didn't see much else of interest."_

"Was there anything at the crime scene that stuck out to you?" Judge Diaphan questioned after he was finished with his testimony.

Mr. Erikson shook his head. "Not particularly. The room is rather boxed-in and cramped. It's hard to move around. There's a table at the center which takes up a majority of the space. On one side, there's a place for the prisoner's handcuffs to go. The other side, where the detective sits, has nothing on it. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary aside from the people," he explained.

"Is it normal to see other evidence inside these interrogation rooms?" Judge Diaphan asked next.

"Not really. For the most part, no other evidence is brought inside of them since the detectives or other interrogators don't want to risk it being damaged by the prisoner. The rooms have always been plain both before and after the murder, I'm afraid," Mr. Erikson responded.

Judge Diaphan was quiet for a moment. She nodded before speaking again. "Alright. Defense, it's time for you to cross-examine the witness' testimony," she said, turning to face me, Victoria, and Yuri.

"I understand, Your Honor," I told her. I already had an idea of what to do here, and it would hopefully set us on the path to getting an extra day of investigation.

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ Finding the Body and Defendant ~**

_\- "I knew that my son regularly came into the prison to interrogate the victim."_

_\- "They have something of a history due to the past crimes of the victim which was mentioned earlier in the motive."_

_\- "The interrogations normally didn't last more than an hour, and I was wondering where Toby had gotten off to."_

_\- "You see, we had been planning to meet up and talk about a few things since we hadn't been given the chance to int he past few weeks."_

_\- "Since the interrogation was taking a while, I got worried, so I decided to investigate."_

_\- "I entered the interrogation room, which is when I found the victim dead and Toby unconscious."_

_\- "I shook Toby awake and called for help. I didn't see much else of interest."_

"Objection!"

I frowned and shook my head. "That doesn't really sound like what you told us yesterday," I remarked.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Erikson asked. He seemed legitimately confused.

"You mentioned yesterday when we questioned you that you saw a woman at the scene of the crime who shouldn't have been there," I explained. "Well, she wasn't in the interrogation room, but she was wandering around the prison when she likely shouldn't have been. I believe this fact is important to this case."

"What makes you so sure this woman is involved in the case?" Judge Diaphan questioned. "Is there some evidence you have to prove she's important?"

"I don't have any strict evidence right now, but I do think she is involved somehow," I said. "Mr. Erikson, why didn't you mention her in your testimony?"

"Well... I figured we would be talking about her later. Better yet, I was hoping the prosecution had managed to get her in here to testify about what she saw the day of the murder," Mr. Erikson explained. "I agree that she's probably important to this case."

"I never heard anything about a mystery woman," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke frowned. "What's going on with a woman in the prison?"

"It was around the time the victim came to the prison after he was convicted of evidence forgery. An odd woman began lurking around for reasons unknown. No one seems to know who she is or what she's doing. It's like she appears and disappears at random. She hasn't spoken to anyone at the prison either, which is rather odd. I saw her the day of the murder too, but she didn't do anything to try and interact with me or anyone else," Mr. Erikson told him.

"I wish I had heard about this sooner... Why didn't you tell me before? This would have been great information to have," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said, still clearly unhappy. However, despite this mask he was putting on, he didn't seem to be upset about it at all. Was he faking this behavior? If so, why would he bother doing such a thing?

"I had thought you would have found out about her. She's been the talk of the prison for quite some time now. Like I mentioned before, I figured you would have called her to be a witness as well," Mr. Erikson replied.

"This mysterious woman does raise a few other questions about the prison," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke murmured. "What if she was the one who poisoned the tea? That was the theory proposed by the defense earlier, right?"

"I don't think that's the case. She doesn't work at the prison. She doesn't have a uniform or anything similar. All she does is appear and disappear seemingly at random without saying a word to anyone. I doubt she could have wormed her way into the kitchen and been given permission to help make the tea for the victim," Mr. Erikson frowned. "It doesn't really fit..."

"So, she didn't poison the tea or anything. She was jut there?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked.

"That's about right... However, it seems to me that she's hiding something. I believe she's got a secret. After all, we've never had an issue like this before. All people who have come to the prison before have had a purpose, but nobody seems to know hers," Mr. Erikson sighed with a shake of his head. "She lurks, and that's all. I think she might know something about the murder though... Maybe she's a witness or something."

"If she is a witness, then we need to speak with her and get her to come and testify here, wouldn't you agree?" I questioned. This was going perfectly. All I needed was to get the agreement of Judge Diaphan and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. From there, the second day of investigation was essentially a given.

"You want us to look into this more, don't you?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke questioned, looking at me with narrowed eyes. He seemed to have seen right through me, which I wasn't particularly expecting. I knew he was a smart man, but he seemed to be off his game today. His exhaustion was still bothering me, though I couldn't quite put a finger on it. I wouldn't know what was going on until I asked him about it at the next chance I got though.

"I do, as a matter of fact," I confirmed, seeing no point in denying it. "I believe we should try and get her to talk to us more about why she's there and who she is. If she was at the prison the day of the murder, she could know something. We need to explore all potential avenues."

"If this is at all important, I saw her around the scene of the crime before the police showed up to investigate it fully. She and I looked at one another for a moment before she ran off. I was thinking of chasing after her, but I had to watch over the crime scene to ensure nobody tampered with it, so she got away. If we can get her to talk about what she was doing there... Call it a gut instinct, but I think we'll get some new information out of it rather easily," Mr. Erikson told us.

"Well, I don't want to cut off our trial so soon," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "Instead of letting us go to investigate so early, we should go over as much as we can during the small period of time we have at our disposal right now. I think we should have our witness testify once again, as a matter of fact."

"What about?" Judge Diaphan asked.

"The mysterious woman. We need as many details as we can get, right? It's a good place to start from in finding out more," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke answered. 

"In that case, please begin your testimony now, witness," Judge Diaphan told Mr. Erikson.

He nodded in response. "Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are fun awesome.
> 
> Also, I have a discord server for my writing now! You can check it out at this link: https://discord.gg/3PzAXdA
> 
> -Digital


	15. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 5

**April 2**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**10:30 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ The Mysterious Woman ~**

_\- "Around the time the note arrived at the prison saying the victim was guilty, a strange woman appeared."_

_\- "She wanders around and doesn't speak to anyone. She also wears all black."_

_\- "She appears and disappears seemingly at random, meaning it's hard to track her down."_

_\- "To my knowledge, nobody has gotten her to open up about who she is or what she's doing there yet."_

_\- "She was at the prison on the day of the murder, meaning she could be related somehow."_

_\- "I heard nearly everyone at the prison was spoken with when the police arrived, or at least everyone in the immediate area."_

_\- "I highly doubt you got to see her though... I don't know what she was doing at the time."_

"It sounds like we really do have a mystery on our hands," Judge Diaphan frowned. "Does anyone know anything else about the odd woman?"

"We ran into her yesterday. She showed us to where one Prosecutor Niamh Wood was located within the prison. She's not part of the investigation team since she isn't on the case, but she was dropping in briefly to give the prosecution something," I explained. "I wish I could tell you more about her, but she disappeared before I had the chance to get her to tell me much of anything."

"I mean, we couldn't get her to say anything to us period. She seemed to have one goal, and it was leading us to Prosecutor Wood. Once that was done, she thought her job was finished, so she ran off," Yuri continued.

"I didn't know there was someone like that at the prison," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke declared, playing around with something around his belt. I realized it was the knife he carried with him everywhere. 

Despite what he was saying about not having known about someone like this at the prison, I got the feeling something was wrong. Once again, there was something off. He had said earlier he wished he had known about this sooner and acted upset, but he was obviously faking it. Now, he was saying he didn't know anything, but it seemed like he did somehow. Was it possible he was related to the woman and her strange room?

"What are we supposed to do about this mysterious woman?" Judge Diaphan asked. "Until we have her name, it will be hard to get her to come on down here. Besides, it would be hard to track her even if we had a name. Without a general location, finding her would be nearly impossible."

"We need more details like I already mentioned. The more we can hear about this woman, the better. When we break for investigation again later on, we can get her to talk more easily since we'll know more," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained. "For now, I believe we should have the defense start their cross-examination of the witness' testimony. We may not be able to do much now but this is a good place to begin, wouldn't you agree?"

Judge Diaphan nodded. "I must agree with you there... Defense, you know what you must do," she said firmly.

"We'll get right to it," I assured her. 

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ The Mysterious Woman ~**

_\- "Around the time the note arrived at the prison saying the victim was guilty, a strange woman appeared."_

_\- "She wanders around and doesn't speak to anyone. She also wears all black."_

_\- "She appears and disappears seemingly at random, meaning it's hard to track her down."_

_\- "To my knowledge, nobody has gotten her to open up about who she is or what she's doing there yet."_

_\- "She was at the prison on the day of the murder, meaning she could be related somehow."_

_\- "I heard nearly everyone at the prison was spoken with when the police arrived, or at least everyone in the immediate area."_

_\- "I highly doubt you got to see her though... I don't know what she was doing at the time."_

"Hold it!"

"What does the woman usually do when she's at the prison?" I asked.

"That's a tough one to answer. She doesn't talk to anyone like I already stated. She mostly just walks around and watches people. I guess she's gathering intel or something," Mr. Erikson answered. "Most people stop talking when they realize she's near, but she doesn't say anything to them either. Hell, I don't think anyone knows what her voice sounds like."

"How strange... Do you think she's trying to find out a way to get closer to the people behind the prison and detention center?" Yuri questioned.

"I don't think so. She doesn't try and get closer to the warden or his assistant. Instead, she's much more focused on listening to the everyday people who come in and out. She likes the guards for one thing. She listens to them a lot, but they never get a chance to press anything she's learned out of her. She always runs off before they get the chance," Mr. Erikson explained.

"She's interested in the guards? Hm... I can't really think of a reason someone would be interested in looking into the guards," Victoria admitted. "I mean, they're just prison guards. Most of them just come in and work before going back home..."

"Whatever it is, she's incredibly interested in what they have to say... Also, she comes into the detention center sometimes to talk to people. She's hard to listen to when she does such. Most of the time, she whispers and is only loud enough for the suspects to hear her. Guards or anyone else in the room can't really hear her," Mr. Erikson continued. "I think she's done the same for some convicted criminals. She comes in, listens to them, and leaves... I've never seen her talking to suspects or convicts though. When I'm around, she only ever walks around the prison before leaving like nothing happened."

"It seems like she's gathering information about something, but what could it possibly be?" Yuri murmured with a shake of her head. "I don't really get it..."

"Could you describe the way this woman looked for us one more time?" Victoria asked.

"Why would you ask for something like that?" Yuri wondered. "I mean, you saw her yourself yesterday. She made us follow her all over the prison searching for Prosecutor Wood."

"I want to know if she looks the same every single time she appears. For all we know, there could be other details she wears sometimes she goes to the prison that we missed," Victoria explained. "I think it would help us at least a little..."

"That's a perspective I didn't think of, Victoria. Good job," I smiled, reaching for a piece of paper and a pen to write down whatever Mr. Erikson told us. 

Victoria's face went bright pink. "I... I'm just glad to have helped," she said quietly, playing with some of her hair. She obviously wasn't used to praise, which I admit I hadn't anticipated. Despite this being her first time on the job, she was doing a lot better than I expected. As far as I was concerned, she deserved all the praise she could have possibly gotten.

"If you want a description of the woman, I guess I can try and give you one," Mr. Erikson shrugged. "Well, she's on the shorter side. She isn't much taller than Ms. Rinko over there behind the defense bench. I'd say there's a difference of a few inches between them, but it couldn't be much more."

"Since we didn't get the chance to see her up close, I guess I didn't realize we were so close in height. I expected her to be taller," Yuri murmured with a shrug. "I suppose life can surprise you sometimes."

"She usually wears all black too. I'm sure you saw that yesterday. She wears black pants and boots with a black hoodie. On top of the hoodie, she wears a cloak. I admit, I haven't seen a cloak in quite some time, but it looks like that's what she usually wears during her prison outings," Mr. Erikson went on. "Her hair is brown, but most of it is hiding behind her hood a majority of the time. Her eye color is hard to see, but she's got a shine around her eyes."

I frowned to myself, my stomach beginning to churn. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this woman based off the description. Granted, if my suspicions were correct, this wasn't really a woman we were dealing with at all. We were dealing with a girl who was a fresh adult.

"This woman... Does she happen to wear gloves?" I asked, though part of me already knew what the answer was going to be.

Mr. Erikson nodded. "As a matter of fact, she does. I forgot to mention them until you brought them up, but she wears black gloves every time she comes to the prison. The only skin you can see is around her face, but even that's hard to make out due to the shadow of her hood," he replied.

I nodded slowly, taking in this information the best I could without letting out an aggravated sigh. Were we really doing this again? I could have sworn we had worked it out already to the point that we were finished with these disputes and issues. I hadn't noticed it at first, but the description given by Mr. Erikson was too much for me to ignore now.

I looked up at the gallery to see where Mr. Morix and Chrysalis were sitting. They looked down at us, curiously watching what was going on. Despite how much I wanted to catch their eyes, they seemed intent on paying attention to the trial. That meant I would just have to ask them about what Mr. Erikson had said during the investigation phase.

"Is there anything else we need from this testimony regarding the woman in black?" Judge Diaphan questioned.

I shook my head. "I can't think of anything, Your Honor," I replied, forcing myself to look away from the odd pair of siblings up in the gallery. Everything was starting to fall into place now. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was acting like he didn't know the woman because he knew who she was. He was claiming to have not heard sooner because he had heard sooner. If I didn't know what I knew, I would have found it to be odd, but I knew exactly what game he was playing at. He definitely knew the mysterious woman, and he was hiding the fact that he knew because they were so close and had been working together for so many years.

"I think we should go over what we've already come to know about this case once more before calling today good. I mean, there still isn't much for us to do," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "We can't talk to the mysterious woman since we don't know who she is or where she would be at the moment. We can't ask about the man who delivered tea to the defendant and victim because we aren't aware of who he is either. It's difficult to progress when we have two prominent roadblocks in the way."

There was one thing about his statement that gave me pause. He said he didn't know the name of the mysterious woman, which I was curious about as well. If she truly was who I thought she was, then what was she going to declare her name to be? It's not like she could tell the truth. I knew the truth, but I couldn't say anything about it. If I had to describe it, I would say the world had placed a mouse toy on a string and had me, a metaphorical cat, try to catch it while simultaneously yanking the mouse away. Just peachy, isn't it?

"Let's go on and do that then," Judge Diaphan instructed with a nod. "I trust you know what you're doing when you ask for us to go over the details of this case, yes?"

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke assured her. "The crime was in the prison, and the defendant was found across a table in an interrogation room from the dead body of the victim. The latter had been arrested on suspicion of evidence forgery after a letter arrived at the prison claiming that he had been forging evidence for many years to prove his defendants guilty in his time as a prosecutor."

"There was a signed confession found in his room saying that he had committed many crimes over the course of his career that extended past mere evidence forgery. Some of those included murder. Three people died at his hands, those being Amelia Wattson, Melissa Erikson, and Gabriel Wood. Their deaths were around twenty-five years ago, meaning the statute of limitations has long since run out. He was unable to be prosecuted for his crimes since the statue has been over for a decade or more," I continued. 

"This means that a lot of people could hold a grudge against him," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke pointed out. "It's not hard to find someone who doesn't like the man. Most people who worked at his side over the years found him to be unpleasant. I heard many such complaints that he was less than a fun person to work with on cases from my own employees as the leader of the office."

"He was poisoned with cyanide during the interrogation between himself and the defendant. The defendant, on the other hand, was found unconscious at the scene. A drug had been used on him to knock him out. The bottle of cyanide was found in his pocket, making him a prime suspect," I went on.

"I must say, this crime scene was covered up in a somewhat messy way. The person who did it wasn't thinking clearly. The cyanide doesn't make sense to be in his pocket, something we covered earlier. It was a sloppy way of covering for their crime to incriminate someone else," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke murmured. "You can take that how you wish to. It's not my place to portray it for everyone here."

I hadn't thought about things from that perspective, I had to admit. He was right about the crime scene being messy. It may have been physically clean, but the planting of the cyanide showed whoever had done it was in a hurry, like they were afraid they'd be spotted. I didn't know how to take that, but I had a bad feeling about it. Whoever had committed this crime didn't seem to know what they were doing, or if they did, something had rattled their confidence enough to mess with their perception of how to set up the crime scene to frame someone else.

"It's almost like there was something the culprit was afraid of," Victoria murmured, turning my direction. "Do you think that might be the case?"

I shrugged. "I don't know for sure. I think we'll really just need to head over to the crime scene again now to see what we need to get together in order to prove who the real culprit is," I said. "I can't think of anything else for us to go over relating to the case at this time. Perhaps the time has come for us to call it good for today."

Judge Diaphan nodded slowly before looking over to Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. "What do you think of that conclusion, prosecution?" she asked.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "It's fine with me. I think we've gone over the main information we needed to keep in mind for the investigation anyways. It's important that we find the mysterious person who brought tea into the interrogation room for the defendant and victim. It's just as vital that we find the mysterious woman who has been lingering around the prison. Any other clues we can find that would point to another culprit are important as well."

"I'm glad you know what you'll be looking for in your investigation today," Judge Diaphan smiled. "It's vital that you find whatever clues you need to finish the trial during today's break. I expect us to be able to hear testimony from the mysterious woman, and maybe even the one who brought tea into the interrogation room. Those two are the most important people in this case at the moment. If we want to solve the murder, we'll need to hear their statements about the case."

"It's not going to be too hard to get the mysterious woman to talk to us," I grumbled under my breath, hoping nobody else could hear me. I looked back up at Mr. Morix and Chrysalis, who were still up in the gallery. Chrysalis looked at me for a moment, and we actually met eyes. I couldn't tell if she was picking up on the way I was staring at her, but if she did notice, she didn't do anything to show she was thinking about it. Instead, she focused her attention back on Judge Diaphan.

The judge picked up her gavel and looked back and forth between me, Yuri, Victoria, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, and Anton. Once she was satisfied, she nodded curtly and spoke once more. "The court is going to adjourn for a deeper investigation into the case. Over this break, I expect both sides to find more information that could lead to the discovery of the true culprit. We will reconvene again tomorrow to continue this trial. Until then, court is adjourned," she announced, hitting her gavel against the bench before her. 

I looked to Victoria and Yuri before heading for the door. We had a lot to do and so little time. Plus, I wanted to try and talk to a certain someone before she went back to whatever she had been doing before this.

**April 2**

**Defendant Lobby No. 3**

**11:00 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

When we got back out to the defendant's lobby, I couldn't see any traces of Detective Erikson or his father. I frowned to myself and continued trying to look for them above the crowd, but I had no luck. There wasn't anyone of note I could see. There wasn't anyone I knew in here yet, not even Mr. Morix or Chrysalis.

However, there was one person who seemed off in my opinion. It was a tall man wearing a prison uniform. He was faced away from me, but something about him was odd to me. I couldn't really describe it, but I had a bad feeling about him. He was looking around for someone, but there was no way for me to know who it was. I watched him glance around the defendant's lobby for a while before leaving. I frowned in confusion. What a peculiar character.

"There you are."

I turned upon hearing Detective Erikson's voice. "There you are," I smiled, letting myself push the odd man to the side of my brain for a moment. I could focus on him again later if I really needed to, but for the time being, I had other things to think about.

"I hope you have luck in your investigation," he told us. "I don't really know what to say aside from that, I'm afraid... Tell me if you find anything of particular note."

"Can you tell us anything else about the mysterious man who brought tea into the interrogation room where you were with the victim?" Yuri questioned.

"I told you everything I knew about him yesterday. There's not anything else I really remember about him, I'm afraid... Sorry to disappoint you," Detective Erikson frowned.

"You said you'd be able to tell us if you heard his voice again. You didn't catch much of his appearance, but you heard his voice clearly. Is that still true?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, it is. I have his voice clear in my head. He didn't say much aside from 'here's your tea', but I still know exactly what he sounded like. If you found him or got a way to record his voice, then we could use that to our advantage. I could tell you who the person was if I could hear the voice again. I'm sure of it," Detective Erikson said firmly.

Mr. Erikson walked up to us not long after. "I'm afraid it's time for us to get back to the detention center. The detective on the case isn't here at the moment, so the duty falls to me," he explained. He looked at me, Yuri, and Victoria next. "I have faith you know what you're doing. If you need anything else from me, I'll be at the prison all afternoon. If I'm not being questioned by police officers, then I should be available to talk to you. Until we meet again, have a nice day."

Father and son walked away from us. I turned to Yuri and Victoria, a small frown still on my face. "We should head back to the prison to check out the mysterious woman again. Do you think we should head there now or talk to Mr. Morix and Chrysalis first?" I asked.

"I see no reason why we should talk to them, but at the same time, I guess they might want to hear what our next plan of action is," Yuri said with a small shrug. "In other words, we're neutral. Either way would be fine. It's up to what you two want to do with our time."

"I guess we could spare a little time to talk to them... Do you need to ask them something, Deirdre?" Victoria questioned, turning to look at me.

I shrugged. "I guess you could say that," I murmured. I wanted to talk to Mr. Morix and Chrysalis, but I figured it would be best if I did in private. Victoria still didn't know the biggest secret behind our agency as far as I was aware. As for Yuri, she wouldn't be able to keep what I had figured out quiet. She'd have some dramatic overreaction. She knew how to hide some things, but I wanted her to keep it from Victoria, which could easily pose a few problems for us all.

"Did you want something from us?"

Mr. Morix and Chrysalis appeared nearby, as if on cue. Mr. Morix had one arm wrapped around his little sister's shoulders. Chrysalis, on the other hand, had her hands clasped together over her chest. There was something passive in her eyes, like she was thinking of some important thing but refusing to talk about it. In other words, it was a look I knew well on her.

"Hello, Mr. Morix. Greetings, Chrysalis," I said formally. "Could we talk for a moment?"

"With or without company?" Chrysalis questioned, getting right to the chase as always.

I glanced over at Yuri and Victoria for a moment. They watched me intently. I looked back to them. "Without, if that's alright," I told them.

Chrysalis nodded and led us away from where Victoria and Yuri were standing. They seemed to be surprised, but they didn't make any attempt to follow after us, something I was infinitely thankful for. I got the feeling they would ask about what I had heard from them once I returned, but I was okay with that. It was easier to cover up my suspicions after the conversation rather than during it.

Chrysalis leaned up against a nearby wall, Mr. Morix still standing beside her. "So... What is it you want to talk about?" she asked. She crossed her arms and tapped one finger against her elbow, waiting silently for an answer. As usual, she wanted me to make the first move. I was used to her tricks by now, which meant I wasn't going to be caught off guard. It was time to get some answers for real.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned instantly, a frown appearing on my face. I couldn't hold back the glare that formed in my eyes. "I know you're hiding something, and I don't like it. I could have sworn we already covered this. You know that you don't need to hide anything from me. I'm just going to figure it out anyways. You forget what I did last year."

"You forget that I didn't tell you anything willingly last year," Chrysalis snapped. "Also, I have my reasons for doing what I'm doing right now. You have to trust me. I get that you'd be mad, but you need to sit back for a moment and have faith that I know what to do."

"What are you doing then?" I frowned. "I want to know. We're friends, Chrysalis. We've been working together for over a year now. You surely know that I'm not going to just stab you in the back after all that we've been through."

Chrysalis didn't say anything at this, instead staring at me silently. She shook her head slowly. "It's much more complicated than that. I have a bad feeling about what's going on at the moment. I can't just trust someone with everything that's happening around us," she told me.

"What's happening around us? I don't understand what you're saying. Can you tell me up front instead of speaking in riddles? A lot rides on this case," I said. "This is the fate of Detective Erikson. You know him. You care about him. And yet, you disappeared when his daughter wanted you to help him out, and when you show up again, I get the feeling you're hiding things from us again. You can trust us."

"Trust is something that can't just be given out. It's hard to just let things go," Chrysalis murmured, looking down at her feet. "I really do need you to trust me right now. There's something else going on in this case. I can't be sure of what it is yet, but I'm sure you'll find it out. My gut says that man who brought the tea to the defendant and victim is more than meets the eye. I can't explain much more than that."

"Is it that you can't or just that you don't want to?" I wondered aloud.

"I can't. I don't know. That's what you need to figure out. In the meantime, I need you to go down to the prison. We can finish things there," Chrysalis said. "Also, I want to point out that it isn't that I don't trust you. I trust you a lot more than you realize. If I didn't, do you think I'd still be having this conversation? I know what you're aiming for, Deirdre, and you're going to reach it by the end of the day. Head to the prison now. The investigation won't wait for you. Time stops for no one."

Chrysalis walked away after saying that. Mr. Morix watched her go before looking to me. "I think it's time that you learned where the project has been keeping its most important things for these past few years. You can't think we were operating solely out of the agency, right?" he asked, a small smirk on his face. "As hard as it is right now, I need you to trust her. She's got the right idea of what to do next."

He followed after his sister with that final statement, leaving me standing near the wall in complete confusion. All I really got out of that conversation was that Chrysalis was scheming something. There was a lot more going on behind the scenes of this case I wasn't yet aware of. I'm not saying it was convenient or anything, but it's not like there was much I could do to change it. I would have to put up with whatever was thrown my direction by Chrysalis, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, or anyone else involved in the murder.

Speaking of, his involvement in the case was making a lot more sense now. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was often too busy to take on everyday cases that had him standing in court. It was only for the most important cases that he was called away from his office to do work inside of the courthouse. Plus, this would explain why he knew who the mysterious girl. He was doing this as a way of protecting her identity in his own way. 

If another prosecutor not involved in Oracle had gotten involved, then they could have easily uncovered something they weren't meant to relating to the mystery woman. If he was on the prosecution though, he could keep such a thing from happening. He must have known we would take on the case as well. With someone we knew and were friends with arrested as the suspect, then it mad sense that we'd be wrapped up in it, and only Victoria and Cormous didn't know what they were doing.

Victoria's involvement was going to be a small issue of its own, but I got the feeling she was going to figure it out soon enough anyways. Cormous was a different story, but he wasn't here, which meant I could leave it alone for now. 

I looked over at where Victoria and Yuri were standing and started over towards them. They were going to ask me about what that conversation had been about, and I was going to have to come up with some excuse to keep Victoria from getting suspicious. This case was turning out to be a lot more trouble than I expected.

We were doing the right thing though. And if Chrysalis was right, she had a plan. She knew what she was doing, even if she was hiding it from all of us for some unknown reason. Then again, she was a sensible girl... On the other hand, I hadn't anticipated her hiding something so big from us... What really was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how I got this one out on time. I had an eight-hour power outage yesterday and weird internet issues today. It's a miracle that this is going up on Thursday.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> -Digital


	16. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 6

**April 2**

**Interrogation Room No. 1**

**1:00 PM**

**Victoria von Graye**

When we got back to the crime scene, not much had really changed about it. The small room was still overrun with police officers as it had been the day before. I looked around to see if anything had been altered since our previous investigation, and my gaze fell on the location of the body. It wasn't there anymore. I assumed the forensics team had decided to remove it for further investigation now that the first day of snooping around had been finished. That was much more likely than the body randomly being stolen, which was the other idea that popped into my head.

"There you are, loves."

I saw Detective Wattson enter the room, a loose and forced smile on her face. I felt my gut turn in sadness for her. I was easily able to tell that she and the defendant had a close relationship, both with the way she was acting and the confirmation of my coworkers to show it. I wished she could help us out more with freeing him, but she was mostly bound to working with the prosecution...

"Hello, Detective Wattson," Yuri smiled, bowing her head slightly. "Do you have any news for us?"

Much to my surprise, the detective nodded. "I do, as a matter of fact. You remember the bottle that the cyanide used to kill the victim was found in, yes?" she asked.

"We do, yes," Deirdre replied. "Did you find out something new about it?"

"We did. Or rather, the forensics team did. We found a fingerprint on the inside of the bottle. It appears the killer was messy enough to miss this," Detective Wattson told us.

"Does it match up with the fingerprints of anybody around here?" Yuri questioned.

"I don't know that much yet. We haven't gotten the chance to test and see if it does match with anything. It's unfortunate, but we can't do much about it yet... I assume forensics will be doing something about it while they're snooping around for the rest of the day. Don't you worry. The fingerprints at least don't match Detective Erikson's... Forensics already has his fingerprints with them, which means that if it was his prints found on the inside of the bottle, we'd already know about it," Detective Wattson said. 

"That's a relief," I murmured, letting out a heavy sigh. "Is there anything else for us to know?"

"I can't really think of anything. This crime scene is rather simple. Aside from this fingerprint, no traces of the killer were left behind," Detective Wattson told us.

"That's not good... I guess we'll just have to try our best and hope something else comes up. You know, or hope that the forensics team can figure out who that fingerprint belongs to," Deirdre said firmly.

"Well, we do have on more option," I cut in optimistically.

"What is it?" Yuri wondered with a small frown.

"Think about what Detective Erikson told us. He mentioned that if he heard the voice of the person who brought in the tea, then he'd be able to tell us who it was. He didn't recognize the person, which I would assume is rare for someone who would have to come by here so often as part of their job," I explained. "All we need to do is find someone who fits his description and get a clip of their voice to show him."

"That's going to be much easier said than done, I'm afraid," Deirdre sighed. "It's not like we can get a voice clip from everyone in the prison. For all we know, the person who delivered the victim's drink might not even be working today. On top of that, the description we got from Detective Erikson was rather vague. That would make it hard to find someone, and again, we have the issue of if they're even at the prison today."

"I guess we're back to square one then," Yuri muttered with a roll of her eyes. "God, this is annoying."

"I'll leave you three to continue your investigation. I have a few other things to take care of, I'm afraid," Detective Wattson told us. "Good luck in looking around. I have faith that you'll be able to find something that will help Detective Erikson in getting out of the defendant's seat."

Detective Wattson walked away, and I looked back to my partners. "What should we be doing next? It's not going to be easy to find a sound clip from that person when we don't know their name or face as a reference. All we have is that description," I frowned.

"Let's go somewhere else entirely, if that's alright," Deirdre suggested. "We have to talk with someone else before we can end our investigation. The mysterious woman is still waiting for us, if you know what I'm getting at here."

"Maybe we can see what's in that weird room she locked herself up in yesterday," Yuri pointed out. "If that were to happen though, we'd need to catch her before she went inside. Yesterday, she didn't come out afterwards, and that would put our investigation at a standstill."

"You don't need to worry about that."

Of all the people to appear in the doorway, the hooded woman made herself known. She looked close to Yuri's height now that she was up closer. She glanced over us before turning and walking away.

I shared a brief glance of confusion with Yuri before Deirdre started going after her. Yuri and I trailed behind Deirdre, getting the feeling she knew where she was going. Deirdre's demeanor had become rather serious seemingly out of nowhere. I didn't say anything as we followed Deirdre and the mysterious woman.

We went down the same path from the day before until we arrived at the door. This time, the hooded woman gestured for us to turn around, which we did. I heard her flick something open before using a small sensor that hummed gently in the heavy silence. A keypad was typed into before a small clicking sound of a door being unlocked was heard.

The woman began walking away, and I turned at the sound. Deirdre and Yuri did the same, and we followed her into the room before she shut the door behind us.

For a brief moment, panic rose in my chest. Was it really a good idea to trust her? For all we knew, this could end horribly wrong. If she was a murderer, we would be in trouble. She may not have been the culprit behind this case, but that didn't make us sure she hadn't committed any other crimes before.

The woman pulled on a string, causing a light to click on. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the suddenly rather minimal lighting before glancing around. This was the last thing I had expected from a room like this.

The room was small, barely having space for the four of us comfortably. It was about the size of two cubicles at a regular office job as far as floor space was concerned, but it went high up and seemed to have more than one floor despite it all being one room.

The strangest part of it in my eyes was what the room was filled with. Case files lined the walls and stacked all the way up to the ceiling. They weren't packed in as tightly as one would expect, but there were still more than you'd anticipate. It was like a miniature version of the evidence room regularly kept down at a police station. There was evidence in between the files, some pieces in glass boxes. A TV was stationed a few feet above my head that allowed for tapes and DVD's to be place inside to view recordings. It was off at present.

I looked around a bit more and peered at the case files closer. They appeared to be in chronological order. I couldn't say where they started from, but the more I went around the room, the faster my suspicions of that order were confirmed. I brushed my fingers along the spines of the many files, a gasp of shock leaving my lips. This was incredible! But what in the world was it doing in the middle of a prison?

"Here's a warm welcome they'll never forget..." I heard the woman mutter under her breath before turning to address us all more openly. "Welcome to the heart and soul of the Oracle group. At the center of the darkest place in the city, you'll find the greatest light for the future."

"This is evidence for Oracle?" I asked in surprise. I still didn't know much about the odd spy since I hadn't lived here long in the grand scheme of things. After living my whole life abroad, coming here to learn a spy lurked in the shadows of most legal dealings was strange to learn, to say the least. Despite that, everyone here seemed glad to accept that such a person was wandering around at all times.

"It is," the woman nodded. "I take it this is what you wanted to know about my little hideout?"

I didn't give an answer, but Yuri did. "Of course! This is amazing! I can't believe I didn't know about this!" Yuri exclaimed. Despite her awe, I got the feeling something about this was bothering her. I frowned to myself, but I didn't bring it up so as not to make her uncomfortable in any way.

I came back to my senses after having gotten all the awe out of my system. "How do we know that you're not going to try and hurt us at all? I mean, we're alone in a dark room, and if you have something to do with this crime, then you could try and pull something," I frowned.

The woman looked shocked (or at least, the bottom half of her face not covered by shadows, did). "Of course not. I wouldn't dream of it. I'm here to help you out," she said.

"I think we should trust her for the time being," Deirdre told me, placing one hand on my shoulder. "If she knows something, we need to listen to it."

"Then why couldn't she have just told us outside here in the main area of the prison?" I questioned, my frown deepening. The longer we hung around in here, the more suspicious I got. If we remained for much longer, I was going to want to kick the woman out of her own room.

"There are some things you simply can't talk about in the eyes of the public. The prison may be somewhat secluded, but there is still information you don't want to be overheard," the woman told us evenly with a small shrug. "What I'm about to tell you is exactly what can't be overheard."

"Does it have to do with Oracle?" I asked. Given the location, it would make sense if she was going to tell us something about the spy. I couldn't think of any other reason she would want to bring us into a place like this.

The woman shook her head. "I'm afraid not. This is just something I wanted to tell you in privacy," she explained.

"What's your name?" Yuri cut in suddenly. "We've been talking all this time, but we don't know who you are. I want to know your name before we go any further."

The woman nodded. "I understand... My name is Erin Anderson. It's a pleasure to meet you," she told us, bowing her head gently.

I opened my mouth to introduce myself in return, but she didn't give me such a chance. "You don't need to tell me who you are. I am already fully aware. I saw the trial from the gallery. Your names are Deirdre Brigit, Yuri Rinko, and Victoria von Graye," she interrupted.

"That's odd... I didn't see you in the gallery," I murmured with a shake of my head. "Oh, well. I guess I just missed you. I wasn't paying that much attention to the people watching the trial."

Despite this, I was still a bit curious about why I hadn't recognized her while she was in the gallery. She kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. Anyone who wears all black instantly becomes suspicious, especially if they happen to hide all but the bottom half of their face. It bothered me, but I wasn't going to say anything about it for now. It seemed to me that there were much more important things to address first.

Soon after I decided not to think about it though, the realization hit me. We hadn't recognized her because she was covering her face. If she uncovered her face, chances were we wouldn't be able to tell who she was. That made a lot more sense than her wearing what she was now. With my mind at ease, I would be able to move on past this.

"I am here to give you an important piece of evidence for the trial tomorrow," Ms. Anderson suddenly said. She moved past me to begin rustling through the shelves. She whispered a few things under her breath I couldn't quite make out before pulling a small box off one of the bottom shelves. "Here we are."

"What is that?" I questioned.

"It's a recording device," Yuri realized. "You recorded something on the day of the murder?"

"I was here at the time. I've been recording things at the prison for quite some time, but I caught one thing in particular I'm sure you'll find interesting. It should help you to find the culprit, as a matter of fact," Ms. Anderson told us, pressing the recording device into Deirdre's hand. "It has everything I recorded around the time of the murder. I got it onto a separate device than what I regularly use to record for the sake of making things easier for you. I doubt you want to listen to countless hours of footsteps and guards muttering under their breath."

"Thank you for this," I smiled. "You're too kind for giving this to us... But I do have one question on the matter..."

"What's bothering you?" Ms. Anderson asked, leaning up against the wall. She crossed her arms and looked at me coolly. The shine over her eyes returned once more, but only for a few passing seconds.

"If you had something like this, why didn't you present it at the trial today?" I asked. "Isn't it important to get as much information into court the first day as possible?"

"It's rather simple. I knew the trial was going to go for multiple days, and I didn't want to get cornered by the killer. It wouldn't be hard for him to figure out who it was that had recorded the sound footage given what's on there. Since there's a much higher chance of him being dragged to the stand and forced to confess tomorrow than today, I figured waiting would be the best option," Ms. Anderson explained.

"You knew we wouldn't have the evidence to prove he did it, and if we didn't have the evidence, you would be in danger," Yuri murmured. "In other words, you did this to stay alive. Impressive."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not exactly intent on dying any time soon. It's a small preference, but I sort of like to keep my life intact as it is," Ms. Anderson said sarcastically. "You can use it tomorrow to prove that he committed the crime."

"Why don't we go on and listen to the sound clip?" I questioned. "The sooner we can figure out more about it, the better, right?"

"Actually... I was wondering if I could have a moment alone with Deirdre here," Ms. Anderson told us. "I need to ask her a few questions, if you don't mind."

I looked to Yuri, who shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt," I said softly. "Alright. We'll get out of your hair."

Deirdre turned to Yuri and gave her the sound box with the voice clip inside. "I'll be out soon," she promised. "Don't get into trouble while I'm gone, alright?"

"We'll be fine. Don't worry," Yuri assured her with a wide grin. "See you later!"

Yuri and I walked out of the room, shutting the door behind us. Yuri turned to me, still holding the small black box. "I think this area is quiet. Let's go on and listen to it," she told me.

"I do wonder one thing... Are we sure we can use this evidence in court tomorrow? What if it's forged?" I asked. "For all we know, this evidence isn't real, and if it's fake, we could wind up in a lot of trouble..."

"We can ask Deirdre about it when she comes out. I'm sure she'd be glad to talk to us about it," Yuri replied. "For now, let's go on and listen to it."

I nodded and watched as Yuri pressed a button on the small black box. It began to hum as the device processed what we wanted it to do. Soon enough, it was talking to us."

_"Hey, you! What are you doing here?!"_

_"..."_

_"No answer, huh? Talk to me. Now."_

_"I-I... Um..."_

_"If you're going to be useless, get out of my damn way!"_

_"Ack-!"_

The voices stopped as there was a thudding sound. To me, it was like someone had fallen to the ground. 

_"Pathetic..."_

The last thing we heard was a set of footsteps before the device clicked and turned off. I looked to Yuri with a frown. "It sounded like Ms. Anderson's voice was one of the two on the recording," I told her. "We didn't hear her voice much, but it seemed pretty clearly to belong to her."

"As for the other voice, I don't know who it belongs to," Yuri frowned. "Maybe we can go and show it to Detective Erikson. He might be able to tell us if it happens to belong to the person he heard at the crime scene."

"I doubt that will do enough for us to be able to accuse him though," I murmured. "We'd need something else concrete, like other testimony or a piece of evidence to show he was at the scene of the crime..."

"Maybe Ms. Anderson will be able to provide that for us," Yuri pointed out. "All we can really do is ask her about it once she gets out. I doubt she'll be able to get out of testifying now that we know that she was at the prison the day of the murder."

"I want to know where this was recorded as well. It must have been close to the crime scene for her to think it's important... Once again, all we can really do is ask," I sighed. "I hope she's willing to open up to us after she finishes talking with Deirdre..."

**April 2**

**Hidden Evidence Room**

**1:30 PM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

After the other two left, I turned to 'Ms. Anderson'. "What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice low. "We went over this earlier in the year. You can trust us. It's not like we're going to suddenly betray you and leave you for dead."

"I know that, but I have a bad feeling, alright?" she told me, holding at her stomach. "It's not something I can really explain, but I feel like something awful is going to happen soon... Plus, I don't want to talk about the project as much around the agency as I used to."

"Are you afraid of being betrayed?" I questioned, finally realizing why she was so cagey. 'Ms. Anderson' had always been quiet when it came to secrets. She had her own that she wasn't ever eager to share. Instead, she let everyone talk around her while she stayed quiet.

"I... I always have been," 'Ms. Anderson' admitted quietly. "That's just a part of the job, I suppose. I don't want anyone to stab me in the back, because if they do, it means everything goes to hell. I die, my siblings die, everyone involved in the project dies, the legal system crumbles... I can't let that happen."

"So, even if we were recruited to help you repair the damage of the past, it's hard for you to move on and trust people given the nature of this secret," I muttered. "I understand your hesitation, but you know that I'm not going to stab you in the back. We've been over this countless times."

"I was planning on telling you when I was officially ready, and I wasn't prepared when you found out. It was one of the worst times of my life, and on top of everything, I found out you had figured out who I really was. It messes you up in ways it's hard to really explain to outside figures," 'Ms. Anderson' told me. "I was going to tell you later on. It's hard to establish trust in such a short amount of time, especially if you're someone like me who has to trust people with one of the biggest secrets in this city."

"Are you thinking that someone new from the agency is going to do such a thing to you?" I asked, taking a small step towards her. "Lily, Yuri, and I aren't going to hurt you. We never planned on it. We're your friends. We wouldn't ever think of doing something like possibly getting you killed. We were curious about Oracle because we wanted to know more and potentially help. That hasn't changed all of a sudden like you fear it has."

"Deep down, I know that, but... I can't shake the fear that something is going to go horribly wrong soon when it's out of my power to fix it. Some things are out of my control, as much as I hate to admit it. I need to keep this under wraps as much as I can... My anxiety has just been getting worse recently. I can't stop thinking about everything that could go wrong," 'Ms. Anderson' murmured. 

"I understand your panic, you know. It's a lot for someone so young to handle, even if there are other people helping you bear the burden. It's something a person like you, one so young, shouldn't have to deal with. You're trying to shoulder all the problems of the city, and it doesn't work so easily," I said, placing one hand on her shoulder. "I can't just... I can't just stand by and let you tear yourself to pieces under the pressure and stress."

"I want to reach out to other people. I really do! But it's much harder than just wanting to do something... Wanting to do it and actually doing it are completely different things in the grand scheme of the world... I don't want to trust the wrong person and pay for it with my life. There are vengeful people all over the place in this world, and I can't put my faith in them. There's too much on the line here," 'Ms. Anderson' said. "It's too much!"

"It's going to be alright... I'll be right here for you... No matter what you need, I'll gladly stay by your side and do what you require of me. I knew what I was signing on for by investigating Oracle during the Interpol case, and I'm not going to abandon you now. All I need you to do is trust me. I can help you open up to the other people at the agency if that's what you want. In fact, I think it's what you need at this point," I told her. "You need to be able to reach out and let other people keep you stable. You don't need to bear the weight of the world on your own."

"But... I don't have a choice. It's what I have to do," she whispered, shaking her head.

"It doesn't have to be that way. I know I went against your wishes by finding out who you were without asking you about it. I should have brought my deductions to you, and I would have under any other circumstances. My intentions were always pure. The same applies to Lily and Yuri, and you know that," I assured her.

"But what about the others? What about Victoria and Cormous? I don't think they really fit into that. Victoria seems like a nice girl and all, but I can't really trust her with something like this so early. Cormous, on the other hand, is just... He's not behaving in a way that makes me want to reach out and tell him about this. Maybe I'm just paranoid because of what he told Lily during the case at the nature preserve, but..." Her voice trailed off as she stared down. "I'm scared, Deirdre."

"It's okay... You don't have to trust them so soon. Trust is something that's hard to give out at all, much less freely and quickly. However, if you keep people away and continuously struggle with everything on your own, you'll crack under the pressure. I don't want that for you. I'd much rather you reach out to us and let us stand by your side as you press forwards in this world," I told her.

"So, you're saying that I can't really trust people quickly, but I need to be able to trust them. Sounds kind of contradictory to me," 'Ms. Anderson' scoffed.

"You know what I'm getting at though. I want you to try and trust us. Even if you can't allow everyone into your inner circle so easily, I want to be there for you when you need someone to lean on in trying times. I can't have you collapsing under the pressure. It's all about finding a happy medium," I explained.

'Ms. Anderson' paused for a moment, pondering my words. "I... I guess that might be a good way of looking at things... Thank you for putting up with me these past few months, Deirdre. I know I've been a train wreck. Ever since the Interpol case and kidnapping, I haven't been doing too well. Maybe that's just an effect of being captured by assassins and held hostage for a few days with minimal water and no food. Trauma acts in strange ways, huh?"

"I understand that you're dealing with a lot. The Oracle project isn't exactly something easy to deal with. It takes time to trust people with something like that too. I get that it's a lot... But keeping everything in won't do much of anything to help you. All it will really accomplish is making you more miserable than ever before," I said quietly. "It might be hard, but I want you to try and trust in the people around you. We're glad to stay by your side."

"I don't want to deal with everything that's been happening on my own... I understand what you're saying. Thanks again for talking to me... I'm going to reach out to Lily and Yuri to talk to them about this," 'Ms. Anderson' told me, a small smile appearing on her face.

"I take it everyone else already knows about your exploits in the prison then," I concluded.

"Yes. We decided to put an evidence room in a public place like this so we wouldn't be the immediate suspects. There's no security camera in the hallway outside the room on top of that, which means it's easy to hide the existence of this room. It works out well for everyone," 'Ms. Anderson' explained. 

"I guess I can't blame you for leaving us out... A lot happened to force us to find out, and you didn't come out of your own free will. I guess we just need to come to an agreement about what you've been dealing with. You don't have to reach out to anyone immediately, but you need to try and trust who you can. Dealing with it alone isn't going to do anything to make you feel better," I said.

"I agree... After this case ends, I'll come out and explain everything to Yuri and Lily. That's a promise," 'Ms. Anderson' nodded firmly.

"Can you tell me a little bit about this room in the meantime?" I asked.

"Of course. It's a hub for most evidence involving Oracle. There's nothing in here that shows who regularly comes in though. In order to enter, you need to have a scar similar to the ones I have on the back of my hands. After that, you need to put in a keypad code only known to people within the project. It's foolproof, if you ask me. Even if someone happened to come across it, no fingerprints will be found since people wear gloves in here at all times," 'Ms. Anderson' replied. 

"I see... Looks like you've got a whole system figured out," I murmured.

"All case files I've worked on, or just any that involve Oracle, are found here. They're legal duplicates that rarely leave this room. Nobody ever suspects the case files going missing since they don't do that to begin with. Everything in this room is legal and a duplicate of actual evidence," 'Ms. Anderson' continued.

"Thank you for trusting me with this knowledge," I smiled, bowing my head to her slightly.

"No problem... I promise to talk to the others about everything once this is over," 'Ms. Anderson' told me. "For now, go on and head out there. I've got to go and see Ghastly to talk to him about what I saw the time of the crime. Don't worry about me incriminating the suspect. That's not going to happen."

"I'll see you later then," I nodded, heading for the evidence room's door. I walked outside shortly after, leaving her to stand alone within the confines of the small room. Overall, we had accomplished something that may not have been revolutionary to the greater world but was important all the same, and I was proud of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I typed the latter half of this chapter (2500 words) in 37 minutes. Have I evolved to a higher tier of human? Maybe. Who knows?
> 
> -Digital


	17. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 7

**April 2**

**Prison Hallway**

**1:55 PM**

**Yuri Rinko**

Deirdre came out of the evidence room a few minutes later. She waved before walking over to where I was standing with Victoria. "I'm back," she told us.

"What did you hear?" Victoria asked.

"Nothing important. She just wanted to talk to me about a few things unrelated to the case," Deirdre said. I could tell she was lying, but I didn't understand why. Did Ms. Anderson really have something that big to hide? And if so, why hold back on telling us when we were happy to help her? What made Deirdre more trustable than the rest of us?

"We should check out what's on the sound box," Deidre went on. Her voice cut through my thoughts, making me jump.

"Of course," I nodded, fiddling around with the device to play the sound once more.

_"Hey, you! What are you doing here?!"_

_"..."_

_"No answer, huh? Talk to me. Now."_

_"I-I... Um..."_

_"If you're going to be useless, get out of my damn way!"_

_"Ack-!"_

_THUMP!_

_"Pathetic..."_

"I don't know who the other person is, but I think the quiet person is Ms. Anderson," Deirdre frowned. "We don't hear her voice much, but it sounds to me like her."

"It makes you wonder who the other person on the clip is. We hear their voice a lot more, but it doesn't sound familiar at all," Victoria remarked. "If you ask me, I think it's time to go and see Detective Erikson again. If he recognizes this voice, that means that we've found our potential culprit. In other words, our jobs will be much easier instantly."

"Sounds good to me," I nodded. "I think it's great we got our hands on this sound clip... But how are we supposed to know who this person is? I mean, having the defendant say he thinks this person is the culprit won't get us very far. In court here, most people don't trust the words of a defendant. We'll need something much more conclusive."

"Or we could talk to the prosecution and see if they've run into anyone who sounds like the person on the tape. If they know of someone who fits the bill, then we can request they be called to the witness stand," Deirdre suggested.

"I think that's a good idea. However, our first move should be to speak with Detective Erikson. After that, we don't have anything else on our to-do list, which means we can freely spend the rest of our time looking for the prosecution and getting them to help us out," Victoria told us. "If we run into Ms. Anderson, then we can ask her for details about this sound clip, but at the same time, I feel like we'll be seeing her in court tomorrow, so if we don't see her again, we can just ask her then."

"In that case, it's off to the detention center with us," I said with a curt nod. "Let's get going."

Victoria started walking off to the detention center. I watched her take a few steps before turning to Deirdre, a frown on my face. "What did you talk to her about?" I questioned. "I want to know."

"It's nothing we need to be going over right now. She had a lot to get off her chest and decided to come to me. I can't exactly say why, but it was her choice. At her request, I'm afraid I can't really tell you much more than that. After this case ends, I'll see if she's okay with letting me talk to you about it," Deirdre told me.

"After this case, we'll probably never see her again. What gives?" I asked. "You know you can trust me. You've always been able to trust me. Together to the end and all that. I'm not going to randomly decide to betray your trust after all you've done for me. Do you not trust me or something?"

"No, of course I trust you! It's Ms. Anderson's request that I don't share is all. If she wants to tell you, she will. Consider that a promise from me," Deirdre assured me. "You have no reason to worry about me not trusting you."

"Alright... I'll believe you on this, but I still have a bad feeling about her..." I said softly. "Will we be able to take care of everything in this case and then see if she's okay with telling me?"

"Why are you so curious to find out in the first place?" Deirdre questioned. "I know you like hearing the secrets of others, but this feels different. You're not quite so bubbly talking about it as you usually are."

"I told you, I have a bad feeling. Ms. Anderson gives me a bad feeling. If her secret is something bad, I want to have advanced knowledge of it to make sure things don't go downhill later on. Having access to an evidence room like that... It bugs me. Why has Chrysalis never told us about her?" I asked. "I guess it's that part that's bugging me. Chrysalis never told us about her, but since she was able to go in there, she must be involved."

Deirdre looked at me for a second before placing her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry at all about it. After this case is over, we can talk to Chrysalis, and she can explain everything. As for Ms. Anderson, if she is involved, then she must know we are too, which means she can trust us. Everything will work out fine, Yuri," she assured me. "For now, let's try and focus on the investigation at hand. We can't afford to get too distracted. We have limited time."

I nodded. "Alright... But we're not finished talking about this. You're aware of that, right?"

Deirdre nodded. "Of course. Victoria is waiting though, and I'd rather she not get suspicious of us," she told me. Deirdre started to walk off towards the detention center.

I followed after her, but my stomach was still tied into a knot. I really didn't know how to feel about all this, but I know it bothered me a lot more than it probably should have.

**April 2**

**Detention Center**

**2:05 PM**

**Yuri Rinko**

Detective Erikson was already on the other side of the glass by the time Deirdre and I had arrived. Victoria had requested his presence since she had arrived a few minutes earlier. She didn't seem to notice that we had been gone, which I was thankful for. I didn't really know how I was going to explain that conversation with Deirdre that Victoria undoubtedly wasn't supposed to know about.

"How is the investigation going?" Detective Erikson asked.

"It's going pretty well," Victoria smiled, pulling a chair up to the area in front of the glass from the nearby wall. "We have something that you might want to hear."

"We think we may have found the voice of the culprit," I explained. "A witness gave us a sound box with the voice of a man, and we would like you to listen it. You can confirm or deny our suspicions on if this is the person you heard the day of the murder."

"Sounds good to me," Detective Erikson nodded. "It sounds like you've already been getting to work."

"That's not all," Deirdre began as Victoria and I fiddled around with the sound box. "We also heard there was a fingerprint found on the inside of the cyanide bottle found in your pocket. So far, the forensics team hasn't been able to find a match to that print, which makes you wonder... Who does it belong to? I'm sure we'll be able to find out soon enough, but right now, it's kind of a mystery."

"If all goes according to plan, that print will belong to whoever's voice is on this tape," I grinned. "That would put them near the scene of the crime at the time of the murder. If you ask me, that should be enough to pin them down."

"Alright. I think I have it up and running now," Victoria murmured. She pressed the button on the sound box, and it began playing the recording again.

Detective Erikson let out a small gasp upon hearing the voice of the other person. He didn't seem to recognize Ms. Anderson's voice, which made sense to me given how little she seemed to talk at the prison, but the other voice was definitely familiar to him. When the sound clip ended, Victoria hit the off button, and we all looked at Detective Erikson expectantly.

"There's no doubt about it," he told us firmly. "That's the voice I heard. The person who was talking more was certainly the one I heard. He didn't sound quite so angry at the time, but that was him."

"Perfect! In that case, all we need to do is find someone around here who sounds like that, and from there, we can find the perpetrator and drag them into court!" I exclaimed, pumping my fist into the air in triumph.

"Where did you get your hands on a sound clip like this?" Detective Erikson asked. "I didn't realize anyone would be recording anything the day of the crime."

"You know that odd girl who's been wandering around the prison for a while?" Victoria inquired.

"Of course I do. It's sort of hard to miss her," Detective Erikson replied.

"Well, she found us and said she recorded it on the day of the crime. She didn't want to turn it in yesterday since she knew the trial would last a second day. It has some pretty incriminating evidence on it, which means it would put her at risk," Victoria explained. "But she seems a lot more confident that the trial will be over tomorrow, which means we can use this freely without putting anyone in danger."

"Hm... I never would have expected her to be so sociable," Detective Erikson remarked. "Well, I never expected her to talk to anyone, period. She avoided all human contact for these past two months, so I never would have anticipated her to find you three and give you this evidence so easily."

"Regardless of expectations, it happened," I shrugged. "And we're planning on using it tomorrow during the trial alongside another piece of evidence Detective Wattson told us about."

"What would that evidence happen to be?" Detective Erikson questioned.

"The cyanide bottle that was planted in your pocket. A fingerprint was found on the inside of the bottle, and it doesn't belong to you. If someone's prints were on the inside, it means plain and simple they likely used it. That being said, we could use that against whoever the fingerprint belongs to and accuse them of the crime," I told him.

"We're assuming at this point that the man you heard on the tape was the same one who got his fingerprints on the inside of the bottle. It would make sense given what we deduced earlier today in court," Deirdre went on. "All we need to do now is go and talk to the prosecution about getting this person up to the witness stand."

"Chief Prosecutor Bespoke has the police on his side, which means that it will be much easier for him to find the person we heard. Since we're working without the help of the police, it would be more difficult for us to track them down... Has he come by here yet today?" Victoria asked.

Detective Erikson shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I haven't seen him since the trial. Normally, prosecutors come by to interrogate the defendant after any segment of the trial, but he hasn't been here. I wonder if he's out investigating elsewhere."

"I'm sure we'll find him," Deirdre assured us. "For now, we should start searching. Thank you for your help, Detective Erikson."

"You're welcome," the detective told us as we left the room. "Good luck in the investigation."

"Thanks!" I chirped with a cheery wave as the door shut behind us.

**April 2**

**Prison Entrance**

**2:45 PM**

**Erin Anderson**

After Deirdre, Yuri, and Victoria left the hallway outside of the evidence room, I snuck out and headed towards the main area of the prison. I didn't know where Ghastly and Anton would be, but this was a good place to start. I pulled out my phone and sent Ghastly a quick text to ask them to meet me up at the front of the prison. From there, we could find a private space to stand alone and talk. I needed to show them the recording while simultaneously making sure Anton didn't recognize me. I didn't want him to find out about me this way. It would be a rude awakening for him, to say the least.

I was leaned up against the wall when Ghastly and Anton came into view. They walked up to me, Ghastly with his hands in his pockets and Anton clinging to his arm. "What's going on?" Ghastly asked. "Do you need to talk to us about something?"

I nodded. "I do, as a matter of fact. Can we find somewhere private away from any prying eyes or ears?" I questioned.

Ghastly nodded his understanding and led me away from the prison's main area. We walked outside of the building and around the corner. There was nobody around, which was just great to me. Now, we would be able to talk openly... Well, as openly as we could with Anton standing right there.

"What is it you want to tell us?" Ghastly asked, leaning up against the wall of the prison.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small black box. "This is for you. It has a recording of everything I heard the day of the crime," I told him. "Including my encounter with the potential culprit."

Ghastly looked shocked. "You were here the day of the murder?" he questioned.

"Yes... I didn't realize this was going to be happening though," I said. "I wouldn't have come here if I had known this was going to be how the day ended... It would have been a bit too risky for my tastes, you know?"

"I understand..." Ghastly began to play with the recording box. It was another spare. I couldn't afford to let my actual recording box go into court when if people rewinded, they would hear things I didn't want anyone to hear. It was part of the business.

"I was here because I thought some people here were corrupted figures. Prison guards in particular have become notorious for abusing their power. I can't allow that to continue, so I snuck in here to get recordings of incriminating speech. In the end, I ran into a murderer along the way," I sighed with a shake of my head. "I was using a wire to ensure everything was being recorded before putting the files on here. I got quite a bit of evidence before the murder took place, but I feel like the section where I ran into a suspect is the most important one at the moment."

"I would have to agree," Ghastly murmured. He pressed the play button on the box and listened to its sound silently. Anton seemed to be listening, but he was wearing his sunglasses, making it hard to tell where he was looking. I closed my eyes and thought back to when the recording had been created. I would explain it after the playback was over.

Once it was finished, Ghastly tucked the box away into his pocket. "Thank you," he nodded.

"You're welcome," I replied. "Do you have any questions?"

"What was going on in the recording?" he asked immediately. "I'm afraid I don't really understand..."

"I was in the prison's interrogation hallway. I was trying to get some footage of a corrupt guard when I heard the door open. I stopped to see who it was, but it turned out to be a man wearing a guard's uniform, but it wasn't anyone I recognized. I was sort of stunned into silence, but he was ready to go into action. He got mad at me for getting in his way and punched me in the stomach to let himself escape. I was caught off guard and stumbled a bit before hitting the wall. He ran off after that," I explained. "I don't think he realized I was wearing a wire, which is good... Sorry for not coming forward sooner. I didn't want him to realize what I was up to. If he got the idea I was doing something sneaky, he most certainly would have tried harder to hurt me."

"Do you think I would be able to use this against the culprit?" Ghastly questioned.

"Yes, but save it for the trial. I get the feeling we're dealing with someone volatile and dangerous. If we give them the impression that we have something incriminating, then they could lash out at us. I mean, he already punched me in the stomach just for happening to see him leaving the crime scene. If you need any evidence that actually happened, I still have the bruise," I went on. "It hurts like he..." I trailed off and looked at Anton, remembering how sweet and anti-swearing he was. "Heck."

"I understand that... It can't be pleasant," Ghastly agreed. "Thank you for giving this to me. How do you think I should go after the person in this recording?"

"Go around and talk to guards. See if any of them sound like that," I told him. "That's probably your best bet since we want to find out who they are without giving them the hint we have something like this. It would endanger everything we've worked for up to this point."

"The crime scene is messy, which means we likely have someone unexperienced on our hands... That's good for us. It wasn't covered up all that well. If it was someone experienced, it means they were swayed by emotion for whatever reason," Ghastly remarked, placing one hand on his chin. "Any ideas?"

"I'm not entirely sure about this, so don't quote me on it or anything, but you know how there were a lot of people who hated the victim, right?" I asked, beginning to frown. My stomach tied itself into a knot as I thought about what I was going to say next.

"Um... Yes. Detective Erikson gave me the full story when I was interrogating him yesterday. He said the victim was responsible for causing a lot of pain, even if he was never truly prosecuted until a short while ago," Ghastly said. "What about it? Do you think someone who hates him most would try and kill him?"

I nodded. "It wouldn't surprise me... In my research, I've learned about the Emsthorpe crime ring. They're assassins who are after legal figures since they've hated the legal system for years now. This all started because the father of its founder was executed falsely for murder, and the real culprit was Alphonse Clarence, as was stated in his written confession in his cell," I explained. "What if the culprit was one of them?"

Ghastly stared at me in shock. He put his hands over Anton's ears, and I felt relief flush through me at knowing Anton didn't seem to have heard what we were saying. He was too focused on a passing butterfly to fully take in our words.

"You think that the culprit is one of the Emsthorpes?" Ghastly hissed.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's possible. I mean, they became assassins fighting against this legal system because of what he did. They may not have known it at the time, but that was their motivation. The Emsthorpes seem to have spies and hitmen everywhere. If someone in the prison was working with them or was somehow bribed to give them information, they'd know about the written confession without getting too involved in the prison. From there, all a member would need to do was sneak in and kill him while pinning the blame on someone else," I said.

"If it was an Emsthorpe, we're in for a lot of trouble. They're dangerous, arguably even more so than Occisor, and we already know what they did a year ago. We need to be careful and make sure nobody spills the wrong information to the wrong person... It'll stay between us then, yes?" Ghastly prompted.

I nodded. "Yes. We can't tell anyone about this until tomorrow," I agreed.

"Sounds good to me," Ghastly murmured. He took his hands off Anton's ears.

The boy began to walk away towards where the butterfly from before was sitting on a flower. The small yellow creature's wings flapped loosely in the breeze. Anton giggled and reached out a finger to the butterfly. The bug hopped onto his finger, making him gasp and point to it silently.

Ghastly smiled and walked over to where Anton was crouched over. He turned his head over my shoulder. "You should head out for today. I'll take care of things from here on out, alright?" he asked.

"Understood," I replied. "I'll see you later."

Ghastly and Anton continued to stand with the flower and butterfly as I walked away. I considered talking to the girls again before the day ended, but I was getting tired. I had been doing too much work these past few months to try and handle the corrupt officials in the prison. Since I had missed it for so long, I wanted to finish it as soon as possible. I felt bad for the people whose stories had gone neglected for so long a time, and I didn't want them to suffer anymore. If only I had gotten some reports sooner...

As I walked over to my car, my phone began to ring in my pocket. It buzzed twice before I fished it out and checked the screen. It was Neptune. That was unexpected. I hadn't been given many chances to talk to Neptune since beginning my overall investigation of the prison. I was doing infiltration work nearly every single day now to see if I could get people to slip up and talk about shady dealings in the prison. The guards had tight lips while prisoners were being threatened, so I had my work cut out for me and more.

I accepted the call and held the device to my ear. "Hello?" I asked.

 _"Hey there. It's been a while since we've gotten the chance to talk, huh?"_ Neptune's voice greeted from the other side.

I sighed. "That's putting it lightly... What's going on with you?" 

 _"Well, it's not really news with me. It's more of just general news. I heard on TV earlier today that a different crime group is up to its old tricks again, and I figured you would want to hear about it,"_ Neptune told me.

"Then who is it? I don't know if I'll be able to take care of it now since I'm kind of in the middle of something, but I'll try and get to it as soon as I can," I told her.

 _"It's another group of assassins, but this time, they aren't trying to kill you. Isn't that a treat? We like some variety around here, don't we?"_ Neptune joked.

"Go on and tell me. I can take it," I assured her.

 _"It's the Emsthorpes. I don't know what they're doing, but they're up to something. There are rumors one of them has been active. I can't say how true they are since as of right now, nothing has been confirmed and they're just whispers here and there, but I figured you would want to know about it,"_ Neptune explained.

"Thanks again," I said, thinking back to what I had told Ghastly. Maybe my little theory was right after all. I hadn't expected it to be, if I was being perfectly honest. After all, a lot of people had a burning hatred for the victim, which would make it hard to pin anyone down as the culprit without evidence. But this? It was like the universe was dumping proof right in my lap. I wasn't complaining, but it was certainly a change of pace given my track record.

 _"No problem. I'll see you later."_ Neptune hung up the phone from her end. I did the same, pressing the off button with one finger as I shoved my cell back into my pocket. I continued walking towards my car.

Briefly, my thoughts were cast back to the three on the defense side of the courtroom. I hoped they were having alright luck in the investigation...

**April 2**

**Interrogation Room No. 1**

**4:45 PM**

**Yuri Rinko**

"I can't believe this!" I exclaimed once we got back to the interrogation room. "We've been investigating for ages, and we haven't found anything! We can't find Chief Prosecutor Bespoke anywhere, and there's no new evidence to speak of! Plus, there's no sign of Ms. Anderson, which means we can't ask her about the sound box she gave us!"

"It's odd to think that today is already almost over... The prison is going to close us out soon, and we really haven't found that much. We need to find something else to use to our advantage tomorrow," Victoria frowned. "If we can just find one more little thing... I doubt we'll find it at the crime scene, but..."

"What are you three doing back here for?"

I turned upon hearing a familiar voice. I gasped and ran towards the owner of the sound. "Mukuro!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. "What's up with you? I feel like I've barely seen you since this whole investigation thing began!"

"Well, I have some good news for you. We figured out who the fingerprint on the middle of the bottle belongs to. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke is planning on calling him as a witness tomorrow too," Mukuro told us. She turned back to the table where the body had once been positioned and grabbed an envelope before handing it over to me. "You can look through it if you want."

"Whose prints were found?" Deirdre questioned.

"His name is Gusuthrou Amstepse. He's apparently a new prison guard around these parts... I don't know when he came in, but he's definitely new. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke seems pretty confident he's involved with the case but didn't choose to interrogate him for some reason. I found it a bit odd, but he just told us that it was best to stay away from him," Mukuro explained.

"That's rather peculiar... I suppose all we can really do at this point is hear his testimony in court tomorrow. I assume he'll be stepping up, right?" Victoria asked.

Mukuro nodded. "Of course he will. We'll all be hearing his testimony for the first time tomorrow, which is going to be strange, but we don't really have any other choice," she told us. "Anyways, that's about all we have for you. I think you're okay to go home now."

"Thank you," I smiled as we started leaving the room.

"Well, it looks like the rest of the surprises regarding this case are going to have to wait until the trial," Victoria sighed with a shrug. "I was hoping we'd find something else, but none of the people we were looking for crossed our paths..."

"I'm sure we'll be alright. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke is an honest man. He isn't going to leave us to rot so long as he believes that Detective Erikson is innocent. He may be our rival in the courtroom, but he's still on our side. There won't be any dirty dealings or falsified evidence as long as he's on the prosecution," Deirdre told us.

"I'm with you, Deirdre. He's a good guy. He won't just turn on us for no reason," I agreed.

"I'm glad to see you two are so confident... I guess we should all be heading home soon. It's almost time for dinner. Do investigations usually take this long?" Victoria questioned.

"Oh, no, of course not. This one just happened to take a bit longer than usual," I said. "I'm sure you'll get a feel for how long they take after a few more trials. Today was against us since we were looking for Ms. Anderson, the man on the tape, and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, but we ran into none of them, which drew things out. It normally isn't this bad."

"That's good to hear," Victoria remarked. "Well, I should probably get going. I think we'll do great tomorrow. Until then, have a good night!"

We waved to Victoria as she walked off towards her car. Deirdre and I headed to the former's own vehicle. I looked up to her. "Still can't tell me what Ms. Anderson said?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not. She'll tell you when she's ready," Deirdre assured me. We both stepped into the car, me on the passenger's side and her behind the driver's seat. "She told me that she would explain everything after the case was over and we didn't have anything else to think about. Should that plan change, you'll be the first to know."

I nodded. "Sounds good." It was quiet for a moment before I spoke up again. "Do you think Victoria will wind up finding out about Oracle?"

Deirdre shrugged as she backed out of the parking space. "I don't know. That's up to Mr. Morix and Chrysalis. I think she would be a fine addition to the team, but it isn't my choice to make. What do you think?" she questioned.

"I think she'd be good for it. At the very least, she'd be better than Cormous. He's kind of a disaster waiting to happen," I smirked.

Deirdre shook her head. "We shouldn't be saying those things about our coworkers."

I giggled to myself. "I know. I just think it's funny," I replied.

Deirdre sighed before muttering under her breath. "Of course you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is coming out pretty early since I have a lot to get out of the way today and I wanted to post this early because of it
> 
> Also the next Fire Emblem game comes out tomorrow and my body is ready
> 
> -Digital


	18. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 8

**April 3**

**Defendant Lobby No. 3**

**9:40 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

I was the first of my group to arrive at the courthouse the next day. Not many people were lingering around in the lobby, which gave me free access to the couch. I took a seat and began to think over all that had happened the day before. 

I was going to be cross-examining 'Ms. Anderson' today alongside the other two. I wasn't sure how to feel about it, if I was being perfectly honest. I trusted we would find the culprit, but I still had a bad feeling about all of this. Perhaps it was my conversation with the witness that made me feel this way. I couldn't quite tell you for sure. I would just have to work my way through it before the trial officially kicked off. Otherwise, I would be at an inherent disadvantage.

I didn't see Mr. Morix around the lobby, but I knew he would be coming. Since he was so closely related to the witness of the day, he had to come. Lily and Cormous were still on agency-watching duty, which meant he was the only one who was able to come along. After all, Victoria, Yuri, and I were too occupied being on the defense team while our other member of the agency had unique obligations regarding her secrets to attend to. I just hoped she stuck to her promise and told the others about all she had been doing behind their backs. Well, behind our backs.

My mind was cast over to the prosecution. We hadn't been able to find them yesterday, but it seemed as if their labor had bore fruits. All it took was one little match up regarding the voice on the sound box and a person in the prison. From there, the trial would hopefully unfold in an advantageous way that allowed me and the rest of my team to find the culprit and release Detective Erikson.

I checked my watch briefly, a frown appearing on my face. It was fifteen minutes until the trial began. I had expected them to turn up sooner, but then again, Yuri was never really one to conform to any expectations. She was far too chaotic to bother trying such a thing. Even if I loved her unique outlook on life, it still caused a few issues from time to time, and I was going to go out on a limb and say this was one of those times.

I shook the thought off and focused my attention on the trial at hand once more. I just had to cooperate with Chief Prosecutor Bespoke and Mr. Burke. From there, things would hopefully get easier. They knew what they were doing. I just had to trust that they would be willing to help me once our primary suspect got up onto the witness stand. It was a lot of blind faith, but there wasn't much else I could concentrate on given the lackluster results of our unsuccessful investigation from the day before.

"Hello, Deirdre."

I looked up to see Mr. Morix standing above me. He sat down nearby before looking into my eyes once more. "I heard that you had a talk with the witness yesterday," he began. I could tell this was his subtle way of telling me not to say too much that could be seen as incriminating or negative.

I nodded slowly. "As a matter of fact, I did. She said she was going to open up to people and tell them about her recent endeavors that had previously been kept secret. Did she happen to pass the message onto you?" I asked.

Mr. Morix nodded as well. "She did... I appreciate your keeping it quiet, Deirdre. It really does mean a lot to us... I'm sure she'll be able to tell you all about that when the case comes to a close," he said.

"Yes... I hope so," I murmured, looking down at my hands. I was still anxious about Victoria and Yuri taking so long to get to the courthouse. Their lack of presence was shaking me before the trial even began. I was used to standing in court by now, but I had always been in the courtroom with someone at my side. Was I going to be forced to go at it alone for the first time today?

Mr. Morix seemed to notice they were missing as well. "Do you know where Yuri and Victoria have gone off to?" he asked, glancing around the lobby.

I shrugged. "It beats me. I got here a few minutes ago and expected them to show, but I guess luck simply isn't in my favor today. Maybe they got caught up in traffic or something," I replied.

"I hope so... How did the investigation go yesterday? Did you gather some useful information to take advantage of during the trial?" Mr. Morix questioned.

I hesitated before shaking my head. "I'm afraid not. Despite our thorough search of the prison, we only really found one piece of evidence. It was from one Erin Anderson. We didn't get to hear the full story behind it, however, and we didn't run into the prosecution either. To say the least, we have no idea what to expect. Well, I have no idea what to expect. Who even knows if they're going to show up at this rate?" I muttered bitterly.

"I'm sure they will," Mr. Morix assured me, placing one hand on my shoulder. "Ghastly knows what he's doing today. If you follow his lead, you'll reach a conclusion in no time. He has a suspect in mind, and even if you haven't spoken to him or the witness today yet, he'll be helping you out. He wants to free Detective Erikson just as much as we do."

"You know, I've always found him to be a bit of a funny case," I admitted. "He's a prosecutor, but he takes on so many cases in which he knows the defendant is innocent from the very start."

"Ghastly was never like the victim in terms of values. While others were focused on only winning, he never cared much for those things. Instead, he decided he only wanted the guilty to be locked away for their crimes. That's how things should be. However, he knows not everyone can stand up for themselves or afford an attorney, so he helps out those he thinks deserve it. If he knows someone is innocent, he won't try too hard to convict them, making it an easy win for the defense, but it's still a victory for the innocent people of the world," Mr. Morix told me.

"You know quite a bit about him, don't you?" I asked, a small smile on my face.

Mr. Morix shrugged. "I guess you could say that. We've been working together for about three years now. I've learned a lot about him in those three years... I became a lawyer initially to combat false charges, a huge issue in this area, as I'm sure you've already figured out. However, since lawyers seem to lack power under the current system in comparison to prosecutors, I needed someone from inside the Prosecutor's Office. That's where Ghastly comes in. We have the same morals and ideals, so we've always gotten along rather well. Rivals or not, he's great at pushing for the truth in all situations. He doesn't hide it like some other prosecutors would do," he said.

"I heard that's what the victim did. He forged evidence, blackmailed people, backstabbed coworkers, used bribes, and paid people off to keep up his perfect win record. Any who dared to stand against him were quickly disposed of... He committed three murders but was let off without a punishment since he's able to manipulate people so easily. It's awful to think that he was working in the Prosecutor's Office working to convict many innocent people for well over twenty years. If it took him this long to get caught, it makes you wonder if there are others getting away with it to this day, hiding in the shadows and telling no one of what they've done," I frowned.

"It's a lot to think about, that's for sure. However, that's why we're here. Our job is to prove that not everyone deserves to be trusted solely because of their position. We need to show the world that corruption can thrive anywhere, and it takes good people to smite it out before it grows into a plague. There are a lot of people like him out there, as much as I hate to admit it. They'll do anything to reach the top, regardless of what happens to others. They're going too far in what they consider victory, and it harms others. Over time, it festers, and that's how we wind up with people like Alphonse Clarence," Mr. Morix told me. "We need to destroy the seeds of corruption before they can grow to be rotten trees like him." 

"How much have you heard about what the victim did up to his death?" I asked.

"Quite a bit. Chrysalis said that there was a prosecutor in the office who seemed rather suspicious and was known among his colleagues for dirty dealings. When she dug deeper, she found him sitting at the middle of the mess he's been creating for twenty years," Mr. Morix began. He gestured for me to lean in so he could whisper into my ear. I did. "She was the one who tipped the police off that he was up to something. She sent Detective Erikson a note saying she thought he was up to something."

I nodded when he pulled away. "I heard about that. A note was found in his office from Oracle saying the prosecutor named Alphonse Clarence was up to something. After that, he began digging, and that's when he was found guilty of evidence forgery. Of course, he couldn't be tried for murder since the statute of limitations had run out. That meant evidence forgery would have to do... How much did he do over the years?" 

"I can't say for sure, but it was a lot. If there was a trial without a clear-cut guilty verdict, it seemed like he'd do something to ensure his victory. Since it seems there are more false charges than accurate charges these days, I think you can put together the pieces of all the lives he's ruined over the years," Mr. Morix said.

"He got to a lot of people with his work. He did a lot to harm innocent defendants who were looking for salvation after a false arrest just to feed his own ego. It's not going to be easy tracking down one person who would want to kill him. After all, a lot of people did. He hurt countless people by either getting them convicted wrongfully or doing such to their family and friends. A lot of people probably hold spite for him in their hearts," I frowned.

"That is true. However, this is all about opportunity. Who would have the chance to kill him? And who would have the urge to go that far? Even if someone's life was ruined, I doubt they'd want to resort to such ends to bring the person who made them suffer misery. It just doesn't seem normal. Granted, a lot happens in the prison. It's a hellhole for anyone. If the prison got to them, maybe they'd change. I can't say for sure," Mr. Morix told me.

"We need someone with the chance and a strong enough motive... I hope Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was able to track someone like that down. I know we didn't have any luck on our end of the investigation. The crime scene is incredibly plain, which meant we had to rely on other places and people to find evidence. In the end, those areas gave us none, leaving us at a disadvantage right from the start," I sighed.

"Like I said, all you need to do is trust Ghastly. He's not going to turn on you. He trusts that Detective Erikson is innocent, which means he's going to do all he can to fight for an acquittal, even if you're suffering immediately. It's not in him to let this stand as is," Mr. Morix assured me once again.

"Thank you for talking to me, Mr. Morix. I'm feeling a lot better than I was earlier," I said, giving him a small nod. "I still don't know where the other two could possibly be. Plus, we haven't seen Detective Erikson at all either..."

"Here we are!"

I gasped and looked up to see Victoria and Yuri practically barreling through the door. They both looked hot and out of breath, as if they had ran the whole way here. I got to my feet. "What happened to you?" I asked.

"Traffic was awful on the way over here. We just got here. It's a miracle we arrived in time," Yuri explained in between heavy breaths.

"Detective Erikson is being escorted in as well. We saw him and Detective Wattson on the way inside," Victoria went on.

"That's good to hear," I nodded. "We should probably go on and head into the courtroom. I know we didn't have much time to prepare, but the trial is starting soon, and it's probably best that we're ready."

"Sounds good to me," Victoria agreed. "Hello, Mr. Morix. I'm sorry we can't really talk now. We have to go and take care of the trial."

"Oh, don't worry about me. You three just do your best out there. Be sure to work with Ghastly. He's happy to cooperate, and I'm sure he's going to be looking for you to put in effort to help him out as well," Mr. Morix advised.

"Thank you, Mr. Morix," Yuri grinned. "We'll see you after the trial, okay? I hope you like the show!"

The bailiff didn't even need to call out for us to enter the courtroom for us to head towards the door. Our favorite purple-haired bailiff wasn't on duty today, which meant we weren't stopped by any casual conversation today. That was alright with me. We had a lot to take care of before the day was done, and I wanted to get into it sooner rather than later. After all, there was something major riding on this victory, and I refused to let it be put off any longer.

Victoria and Yuri went into the courtroom first. I hesitated in the doorway, taking in a brief sigh before letting out the breath. After that, I walked inside after my coworkers, ready for the challenge that awaited. It was time to prove who had really committed this crime, even if I had no idea how I was going to go about it. However, now wasn't the time for doubting myself. Now was the time to lead my team to victory, and I was going to do it no matter what came my way.

**April 3**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**10:00 AM**

**Victoria von Graye**

I glanced around the courtroom once I was inside. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was on the other side of the room, messing around with a knife and its holder. He seemed overall indifferent of what was going on. Anton had his sunglasses on, so it was much harder to read his emotions. I stared at him for a moment before shaking my head and snapping out of it.

The sound of the gavel yanked me from my trance, dispelling any haziness I had left. "Court is back in session for the trial of Toby Erikson," Judge Diaphan declared, setting the small hammer down to the side. "I take it that the defense and prosecution had a successful investigation using the time allotted."

Before I had the chance to say anything in response, Deirdre spoke over me. "Yes," she said simply, keeping the words to a minimum to make it less obvious she was lying. I gulped nervously. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing, and I didn't like it one bit.

"The prosecution also had a grand time investigating," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke declared, setting his knife down to the side. "We also have a witness to call in honor of the completed investigation."

"I see... In that case, go on and call for them," Judge Diaphan nodded.

"The prosecution calls Erin Anderson to the witness stand," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke announced, pointing to the podium at the center of the courtroom.

Ms. Anderson scurried up to the stand. She was still hiding her face and body beneath all that black clothing. It was hard to see her features, something I wasn't very fond of. I had expected her to change her clothing slightly to make it more suitable for court, but apparently that was too much to ask. Reading her facial expressions was going to be difficult with this ensemble.

"Please give the court your name and occupation," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke continued, turning my attention from Ms. Anderson back to him.

"Erin Anderson. I'm currently unemployed," the witness said, her voice deadpan. She looked over at Chief Prosecutor Bespoke without any hints of emotion. "You wish for me to testify about what I saw the day of the murder, yes?"

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do. Please, begin your explanation on what you saw and did around the time of the crime," he instructed.

"We never got to hear this part... I don't like that we're going into this blind," Yuri hissed at me with a shake of her head. 

"I don't like it either, but we don't really have a choice. I guess we'll just have to roll with it and hope that there's a contradiction in there somewhere," I whispered in response.

"If the defense is finished chatting, we can begin the testimony. Witness, go right ahead," Judge Diaphan cut in, looking back to Ms. Anderson.

The witness nodded her head, remaining as emotionless as ever. "Of course."

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ My Encounter That Day ~**

_\- "At the time of the crime, I was wandering around the interrogation room where the defendant was with the victim."_

_\- "I didn't look inside or anything since I figured it wasn't my business."_

_\- "That was when a man walked out looking flustered and angry."_

_\- "I was about to ask him what was wrong when he lashed out and punched me in the stomach."_

_\- "He ran off after that, so I didn't get a good luck at his face."_

_\- "I think I remember a few other things about him though..."_

"She ran into someone leaving the crime scene?" Yuri asked in shock. "We never heard anything like that!"

"In a way, it kind of makes sense. We heard the sound of something hitting the ground. That could have been her falling over after he punched her," Deirdre murmured.

"In other words, this testimony is pretty important," I said with a small nod. "I don't see any immediate contradictions though. What are we supposed to do now? There's no clear-cut way of getting out of this."

"This testimony is important, but one part of it in particular is rather vague. If we can get more details on it, then perhaps we can move on with the trial and ask a few other questions or speak with a different witness," Deirdre advised. "It's just a matter of pinpointing that vague statement."

"I think Victoria should try and handle this one," Yuri said. "It's pretty basic, meaning it's good for a beginner."

"I agree. Victoria, do you think you can handle this cross-examination?" Deirdre asked.

I hesitated, ready to decline the offer. I wasn't confident enough in my skills yet to try. I was nervous I would mess up. They had experience, which I lacked in all areas but especially this one. 

At the same time, I wouldn't get better if I didn't have the chance to step out of my comfort zone and give this sort of thing a try. I would be stuck as an assistant for the rest of my life, and that didn't at all fit in my goals of carving my own path and making a name for myself.

In the end, I found myself nodding. "Alright. I will," I told them. "Just promise to help me out if I get stuck."

"We can do that," Yuri assured me with a wide grin. "You can totally do this, Victoria!"

I felt myself blush. They had way too much faith in a rookie like me.

"Please begin your cross-examination now, defense," Judge Diaphan declared. 

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ My Encounter That Day ~**

_\- "At the time of the crime, I was wandering around the interrogation room where the defendant was with the victim."_

_\- "I didn't look inside or anything since I figured it wasn't my business."_

_\- "That was when a man walked out looking flustered and angry."_

_\- "I was about to ask him what was wrong when he lashed out and punched me in the stomach."_

_\- "He ran off after that, so I didn't get a good luck at his face."_

_\- "I think I remember a few other things about him though..."_

"Hold it!"

"What do you remember about this man? Even if you didn't see his face, was there anything else that stuck out to you about him regarding physical appearance?" I asked. I was pretty sure this was what the other two had been referring to regarding a vague statement. She had only said she remembered things and not what they were. With our limited information, it was hard to poke a hole in her testimony, which meant this would have to do for now.

"I remember that he was wearing the uniform of a prison guard... His eyes were hiding underneath the brim of his hat. The hat cast a weird shadow that kept me from seeing much of his face. His mouth was clear as day, but I didn't gather any details from it. He was pale in skin tone. I remember that much. He seemed flustered and surprised to see me there, hence why he lashed out," Ms. Anderson replied.

"Was there anything about the uniform that seemed out of the ordinary? What was his body type like? How did his voice sound?" I found myself questioning. I was going a bit fast, something I chose to blame on the nerves. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to throw me into the middle of this fray all of a sudden.

"Nothing on the uniform seemed strange aside from the right breast region. Normally, there's a badge or name tag there, but I didn't see one. As for body type, he was much taller than me, though that's not much of a challenge. I couldn't really tell you exactly how tall he was, but he towered over me. His voice... Well, we can go on and listen to it for ourselves, don't you think?" Ms. Anderson looked over to Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. "You still have the sound box I gave you yesterday, right?"

"Sound box?" Judge Diaphan echoed. "What's this about?"

"I was recording what was going on around me with a wire that day. I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, and I wanted to be ready. I caught my conversation with the man in the prison guard uniform on tape and put it onto a separate sound box to be used as evidence during the trial," Ms. Anderson explained. "Most of what was caught before and after was complete silence, so I didn't bother including it. The only clip on there is from when I saw the man and he punched me. I got his footsteps as he ran away after the fact, but everything afterwards was quiet and didn't pick up on the microphone."

"Can we listen to the sound clip?" Judge Diaphan asked. "I take it that the prosecution has a copy of it, but I haven't had the chance to review the evidence, I'm afraid."

"I'll go on and play it. I have a copy, and so does the defense. Sorry you didn't get to look over it before the trial began, so I guess now is as good a time as any," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "It's not all that loud, so everyone will have to be pretty quiet."

At those words, any shuffling and rustling from up in the gallery came to a complete halt. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke pulled out the sound box and pressed a button on it to make the playback start. The device hummed for a moment before the dialogue played out once again.

I listened intently, hoping to pick up on something I had missed on the other times through it. In the end, I didn't hear anything new. I watched as Chief Prosecutor Bespoke turned the box back off before pushing it off to the side. Anton took it and began to look at it closely. I got the feeling his eyes were widened in awe from behind those sunglasses of his.

"So, that's the sound clip... Hm... Do you know exactly who was on the other end of this conversation? We know who Ms. Anderson is, but I don't believe we have a name at the moment of this other individual," Judge Diaphan frowned.

"I found him yesterday during the investigation. He decided to come and testify for us here today. Once we're finished with Ms. Anderson, we can go on and call him up to the stand, assuming that's okay," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke replied.

"For now, let's go on and take care of our business with the current witness," Judge Diaphan declared. "This man didn't have a name tag or badge, correct?"

"No, he didn't. He's the one I mentioned before. This was recorded just outside the interrogation room where the crime took place," Ms. Anderson explained. "His uniform seemed rather barren without them."

"In that case, may I cut in and say something?" I said nervously. All of this talk about what happened at the time was giving me an idea, and I was ready to share it. At least, I thought I was. My shaking voice would likely disagree, but I wasn't about to let that stop me after we had come this far.

"Of course," Judge Diaphan nodded.

"The description given by the witness obviously does not match that of the defendant. Plus, he was inside the room when the crime scene was discovered. This means that the man she ran into was not the defendant," I began. "The man she saw was flustered and angry. Wouldn't it make sense to assume he was the culprit and was upset that someone had seen him leave the crime scene? If that wasn't the case, then why would he feel the need to punch her seemingly out of the blue? He must have been trying to hide something."

"You sound like you've come to a conclusion about the case," Judge Diaphan frowned.

"I have, as a matter of fact. The defendant was still in the room at the time, but we went over yesterday that he couldn't have had the chance to poison the victim's drink. It simply wouldn't have been possible. Now, we have someone who left the room in a panic, someone who shouldn't have been there and wasn't present for the interrogation, who reacted with violence upon noticing there was a witness. If you ask me, that's rather suspicious," I explained. "It's something we need to look into further if we really want to find the truth behind this case."

"Plus, there's the factor of the unconsciousness of the defendant. If he had committed this crime, he would want to clean up the evidence to ensure he wasn't arrested. His being drugged is proof of his innocence. On top of that, anyone would have heard a sudden thumping sound from just outside the door when Ms. Anderson got hit. And yet, for some reason, the defendant didn't... Perhaps he had already fallen asleep and was unable to hear it since he was unconscious under the influence of the drug," Yuri piped in next. "It would make sense. After all, we've spoken to him multiple times but never heard anything about that side of the story."

"If you ask me, this all points to one conclusion. Like we figured out yesterday, the defendant was not the one who committed this crime. However, unlike yesterday, we now have a suspect. The person who attacked the current witness has some explaining to do about whether or not he committed the crime," Deirdre declared. "Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, I heard you were planning on having him testify about his actions the day of the murder. Perhaps it's time for us to call him here to tell us about what happened around the time of the crime."

"I was, as a matter of fact. He's all ready to go for whenever we need him," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke replied. "Just say the word."

"I think we've all come to the same conclusion here. It's time for us to hear the testimony of the man on the tape. Please, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, call him to the witness stand. It seems like a natural next step to take," Judge Diaphan instructed.

"Go on and step down, Ms. Anderson. You did great," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "We'll be sure to summon for you should we require your words again."

Ms. Anderson nodded and walked away from the witness stand silently. She didn't try to meet my eyes on the way back, though she did give Deirdre a somewhat lengthy stare. I looked between the two until Ms. Anderson broke off the eye contact to head back to her seat.

"The prosecution calls Gusuthrou Amstepse to the witness stand!" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going up literally minutes before I go off to see a musical, so take this quickly.
> 
> -Digital


	19. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 9

**April 3**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**11:00 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

A man walked up to the witness stand in the minutes that followed. He looked to be on the older side, and his stare was blank. I couldn't see much of his face since it was covered up by a hat, but it seemed like he matched the description given by Ms. Anderson. He refused to meet anyone's eyes. I also noticed he wasn't wearing a name tag or badge, which was only another nail in his coffin as far as I was concerned. The uniform may have fooled other people before, but it wasn't going to deceive me.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Diaphan announced.

"Gusuthrou Amstepse. Granted, you already knew that, didn't you? That prosecutor over there already said it," the man replied, his voice seemingly monotone. I could hear some quiet hatred behind his tone that left me unsettled. He seemed to hate being here, but not in the traditional way. Some witnesses didn't want to come to court since it took up their time, but this seemed different. I wasn't entirely sure how to describe it, but his strong dislike for the current situation was enough to put me on edge.

Judge Diaphan sighed. "Name and occupation, please," she repeated, fiddling around with her gavel.

Mr. Amstepse huffed angrily. "Gusuthrou Amstepse. Prison guard. Is that what you wanted to hear?" he snapped.

Judge Diaphan didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her angry. Instead, she put on a sickeningly sweet smile. "Of course," she said in a false cheery tone.

"You were at the scene of the crime at the time of the murder. We need you to tell us what you were doing at the time. Can you do that for me?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked. He didn't seem very pleased with the witness' attitude either. Mr. Burke, on the other hand, was staring at Mr. Amstepse intently. I couldn't see much behind his sunglasses, but with the way he was clinging to Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's arm, I got the feeling he was afraid.

"If that's what'll get me out of here sooner, fine," Mr. Amstepse muttered.

"He really doesn't want to be here... It's kind of bothering me," Yuri hissed my direction, playing with some of her hair.

"I don't understand. It sounds like he's ready to attack the next person who crosses him. I know I'm not a master of psychology like you are, Deirdre, but... It's worrying," Victoria frowned.

I nodded. "I know what you're talking about. For now, let's keep quiet about it. If it becomes a greater concern, we'll speak up. Let's try and keep him as calm as possible for the time being. We have to get valuable testimony out of him, and that'll only get harder if he gets snappy," I told them.

The two women nodded in reply before turning their attention back to Mr. Amstepse. He was beginning his testimony, a bitter expression still painted on his face. I couldn't help but wonder what his problem was...

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ I Was There? ~**

_\- "I don't know why any of you would think I was there the day of the crime."_

_\- "You're going off the flimsy testimony of a witness who doesn't even follow correct procedures?"_

_\- "It sounds to me like you're grasping at straws to try and accuse me of this crime."_

_\- "As for where I was at the time of the crime, I was wandering around the prison on my own."_

_\- "Since I'm a prison guard, you can't say I wasn't supposed to be there."_

_\- "Unless you have some real proof that I was at the scene of the murder, I suggest you remember to hold you tongue."_

"So... You intend to deny you were at the scene of the crime?" I asked in shock.

"I'm denying it because it's true. I wasn't there. I need some official evidence for me to believe your claims that I was there. Unless you can provide that, I believe our conversation ends here," Mr. Amstepse declared.

"He says he wasn't present... That's not true. We have evidence that it's false. All we have to do is present it and stay as calm as we can, right?" Yuri asked.

I nodded. "I agree. If we can get him to admit he was there, things should get easier. In the meantime, let's hope things don't go horribly wrong. He's got a short temper, which means we'll have to make sure we don't upset him. If he gets angry, our key witness could be kissed goodbye."

"Please begin the cross-examination, defense," Judge Diaphan instructed.

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ I Was There? ~**

_\- "I don't know why any of you would think I was there the day of the crime."_

_\- "You're going off the flimsy testimony of a witness who doesn't even follow correct procedures?"_

_\- "It sounds to me like you're grasping at straws to try and accuse me of this crime."_

_\- "As for where I was at the time of the crime, I was wandering around the prison on my own."_

_\- "Since I'm a prison guard, you can't say I wasn't supposed to be there."_

_\- "Unless you have some real proof that I was at the scene of the murder, I suggest you remember to hold you tongue."_

"Objection!"

"We do have some evidence that you were at the scene of the murder. I would like you to listen to the tape we were given as evidence earlier today. It was recorded just outside the room where the murder took place, and the witness says she saw you leaving. Your voice was even caught on the tape she was recording at the time," I told him.

"You think I was there because of some testimony from that little girl?" Mr. Amstepse asked. "I would like to ask you if that girl is credible. Do you think she can be counted on in this situation? Has she followed the proper protocol up to this point? Is she worthy of being heard in this sacred hall of justice?" He practically spat out his last sentence given the disgust in his voice.

"Unless you have solid proof that her testimony isn't valid, then we're going to follow her word on it," I frowned. "The recording seems clear as day that it was you. If you ask me, that reinforces her statement that you were present at the scene of the crime. What do you say to that?"

"How can you be sure that recording is real? For all you know, it's somebody else completely, and she's saying it sounds like me as a way of pinning this crime on me. How do you know she didn't do it? You can't say the defendant didn't see her or anything. He's the suspect. His testimony isn't reliable. If you're going to treat me as a suspect, do the same for her. I won't be tolerating these false accusations, and if they keep up, I might just have to take my business else where," Mr. Amstepse said firmly, tapping his fingers against the witness stand.

"He's rather insistent on proving that Ms. Anderson's testimony isn't reliable," Yuri murmured with a shake of her head. "Do we have anything to show him that her words can be trusted? If we can show that her testimony is something we can count on, then his argument will crumble."

"He's been deliberately keeping the subject away from himself. By accusing Ms. Anderson, the conversation turns to focus on her rather than him. To keep the suspicion at bay, he's pressing us to reconsider her testimony. The recording has been seen as reliable, but if we can't get him to trust it, then he won't open up, and we'll be stuck in this consistent loop," Victoria sighed. "In order to move on, we need to show that her testimony is reliable."

"Or... Maybe we could take this differently. Instead of approaching like we're going to prove her testimony is strong, why don't we prove that his testimony doesn't hold water?" I asked.

Yuri shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't follow," she replied.

"If we can show that his accusation against Ms. Anderson doesn't hold up, then we can get him to talk about something else. His guard is up right now. Maybe we can catch him by surprise if we can get him to admit that his thoughts on Ms. Anderson's testimony are false. It's rather obvious that this is a diversion tactic. However, we don't have much of anything to show that her testimony is something to count on given how quiet and mysterious she's been since the case began. Our information on him is limited as well, but he has to slip up at some point or another, and that's when we'll catch him. From there, the trial can progress as it should," I explained. "We discredit his words, and we can move on."

"It's a different take, but I guess it's one we can go for, assuming you think we can do it... Alright. Deirdre, I'm counting on you here to bring us the win," Victoria said with a firm nod.

"I would like the witness to testify once more," I declared, looking away from our small talk to focus on the courtroom at large.

"What would even be the point? I wasn't there. You can't prove that I was there," Mr. Amstepse shrugged. "Since I wasn't involved with the crime, why bother getting me to talk again?"

"If you really weren't at the scene of the murder, take this time to tell the court what you were doing at the time the victim was killed. You said you were in the prison, yes?" I asked. "In that case, get specific. Give us all the details you held back on during your first testimony. I want to hear everything."

Mr. Amstepse looked at me in confusion for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I really don't know what the point of this is. I already told you I wasn't there. Why do you want more from me? Do you think I'm a suspect just because I was at the prison? If that's the case, why don't you call every other guard and prisoner up here to the witness stand to say what they were doing at the time? You know, if you want to be really thorough," he mocked.

I shook my head solemnly. "Please save the accusations for later, witness. For right now, please tell the court what you were doing when the victim was poisoned," I instructed. I avoided being too harsh so as not to scare him into not testifying.

Mr. Amstepse shrugged loosely. "Alright, alright... No need to get so intense. I'll tell you," he said.

**~ Witness Testimony ~**

**~ What I Was Doing ~**

_\- "I was on the prison side of the building making sure everyone was in their cells."_

_\- "I was doing a brief check to ensure nobody had escaped. Prisoners make attempts rather frequently, even if they mostly fail. It's prison protocol to check each day that everyone is present and accounted for."_

_\- "My job was simply to make sure we had everyone still within the prison walls. No more, no less. I walked past each cell, and if it was filled, I kept going."_

_\- "I can assure you that I was not at the scene of the murder when the victim was killed. Nobody was in there at the time."_

_\- "You don't have any proof to show otherwise, which means it's time for you to hush up and listen to what I have to say. I know what I was doing better than you ever will."_

_\- "It's not like you can fault me for doing my job. It's what all prison guards do. Unless you're going to accuse me of misconduct in that area too. Huh? Are you?"_

"He's trying to bait a negative response out of us with this. We need to stay calm. I mean, I want to rip his face off and feed it to a herd of angry hyenas as much as the next girl, but that's not exactly going to help us much, is it?" Yuri said with a shake of her head. "Seriously, would anybody be down for doing that with me?"

"I don't think now is the time to be discussing such... But I do agree in that he's trying to get a negative answer from us by asking all of these accusing questions. If we don't give into them, we'll be able to get through this much faster," Victoria agreed.

"I already know what I'm going to be doing... Granted, I don't really have much proof to back this up, but I think it might get us somewhere. Mr. Morix told me to trust in Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, and I'm going to have to do just that if I want to have any hope of getting out of this," I murmured.

"It's time to begin the cross-examination," Judge Diaphan announced evenly.

"You had better not accuse me of anything during this," I heard Mr. Amstepse mutter bitterly. He was glaring angrily at me from behind the witness stand, but I didn't let it get to me.

Instead, I nodded firmly. "I'll do just that, Your Honor," I answered, taking on that sickeningly sweet tone she had adopted earlier. Judge Diaphan looked my direction for a moment longer than I expected her to, which told me loud and clear that she knew I was being sarcastic.

Mr. Amstepse seemed irritated, but he didn't openly voice his anger. He waited for me to gesture for him to restate his testimony instead before taking it from the top once more.

**~ Cross-Examination ~**

**~ What I Was Doing ~**

_\- "I was on the prison side of the building making sure everyone was in their cells."_

_\- "I was doing a brief check to ensure nobody had escaped. Prisoners make attempts rather frequently, even if they mostly fail. It's prison protocol to check each day that everyone is present and accounted for."_

_\- "My job was simply to make sure we had everyone still within the prison walls. No more, no less. I walked past each cell, and if it was filled, I kept going."_

_\- "I can assure you that I was not at the scene of the murder when the victim was killed. Nobody was in there at the time."_

_\- "You don't have any proof to show otherwise, which means it's time for you to hush up and listen to what I have to say. I know what I was doing better than you ever will."_

_\- "It's not like you can fault me for doing my job. It's what all prison guards do. Unless you're going to accuse me of misconduct in that area too. Huh? Are you?"_

"Objection!"

"I think it's time that we look at this case, and this testimony, from a slightly different angle," I began. "I think it's a good idea to question the validity of his words. He claims that we can't trust the testimony of our previous witness, but how can we be sure he's telling the truth?"

"We don't have any evidence that he was in the room at the time of the crime. How can we show that her words can be trusted without solid physical proof?" Judge Diaphan asked.

I nodded. "I must admit, you do have a bit of a point there, but... I'm here to question something else about his testimony. He's acting rather confrontational, as if he expects to be caught in one of his own lies. It's an odd way of acting in a court of law, to say the least. I must ask you, Mr. Amstepse... Are you truly a prison guard?" I questioned.

Mr. Amstepse seemed taken aback by my words. "What are you talking about? Of course I am. How could I not be? You can't just become a prison guard whenever you want. I'm qualified. I wouldn't be wearing this uniform if I wasn't... Or are you going to accuse me of theft? What are you going to do, huh?" he taunted, his voice steadily increasing in speed. He was trying to catch me off guard, but I would not be fooled so easily.

"This is something that Ms. Anderson mentioned earlier on. She said that the person she had seen wasn't wearing a badge or name tag. Now, if we look at you, we can see that you aren't wearing a badge or name tag. Why would you not have such simple objects? If you were a prison guard, it would be a requirement for you to wear them at all times, and yet, I don't see either one of those objects on you. Where are your badge and name tag, Mr. Amstepse?" I inquired.

"So, you're saying that because I don't have a badge or name tag, which I could have very easily just forgotten, I must be lying about my occupations? You're jumping to conclusions pretty severely here," Mr. Amstepse grumbled, shoving his hands into his pocket. "Tell me, where's your evidence?"

"I don't have any solid evidence, but I do have an idea. Anyone can steal a prison uniform if they know what they're doing. There are spare uniforms for the guards within the prison last I heard. If someone knew where they were kept and how to get in, they could easily take a uniform to use for their own purposes. However, stealing a name tag and badge is much more difficult," I began. "Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, would you mind telling us what you know on this matter?"

"About badges and name tags within the prison?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Give us all the information you have," I confirmed.

"Well, there are extra uniforms found within the prison in case any get lost. They're kept in storage lockers in between the prison and detention center facilities. Any guard can get in using a code they type in on a keypad. From there, the door opens, and the guard can get out an extra prison uniform should they require it. There aren't any keys used to open the doors since those can easily be stolen. They were originally opened by keys, but that changed after the previous murder within the prison last year," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke began. "Anyone who knows the code can get inside."

"Does the code stay consistent?" I questioned.

"No, it doesn't. Every week or two, it changes. That's to keep any prisoners from seeing it while they walk past. However, some have still made attempts to take uniforms in the past. Granted, they've all been unsuccessful, but... It's still something to keep in mind when considering this case," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke replied.

"I look at it like this. If this witness has a uniform, where is his name tag and badge?" I wondered aloud.

"Name tags and badges can't be stored in those lockers. For the sake of keeping them safe, they're held onto by their owners. The name tags and badges are meant to be brought to the prison by the guards each day and taken home after their shifts. Because of that, stealing one would be difficult," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke answered.

"In other words, if this witness has a uniform but no name tag and badge, then how do we know he's really a prison guard? If he was a guard, he would have likely filed something by now to tell the prison's warden or another higher-up official that his badge was lost. He could get a replacement from there. All we really need to do is see if someone filed a report with this man's name recently. If there are no recent filings, then we'll have to consider that this man stole a uniform," I announced.

"You can't go around accusing people of theft just because they forgot their badge and name tag for a few days. I accidentally forgot to grab them the day of the murder. You're really going to say I'm not a guard for something that simple? Accidents happen. You can't just use one to justify a murder accusation," Mr. Amstepse said angrily.

"A murder accusation? I never said I was accusing you of murder. I'm merely saying that your testimony isn't reliable. Your accusation on Ms. Anderson holds no water if you've been lying about something so crucial. If we happen to be forced to suspect you because of this lie, then so be it, but for now, I'm only trying to prove that your thoughts on Ms. Anderson's testimony are false. You clearly weren't going to let us move on until after I showed such a thing was true, so here we are," I told him with a small shrug.

"I highly doubt the missing badge and name tag are as simple as merely forgetting them... You're not wearing them today either. I doubt someone would forget about something so important mere days after forgetting the last time. Even if you weren't going into work today, you're still wearing your prison uniform, but your badge and name tag are nowhere to be found... It makes me wonder if you even have them. I mean, if you stole a uniform, then you wouldn't have either one of them..." Yuri remarked, tapping one finger against her chin.

"You think I'm a liar and a thief?" Mr. Amstepse asked angrily. He looked ready to pounce at her the moment he got close.

"You're jumping to conclusions here, Mr. Amstepse. Please, take a moment to relax," Judge Diaphan instructed sternly.

"I think we should see about checking with the warden or his assistant... Think about it like this. If he was a prison guard, he should realistically be on a list of all the guards in the prison. The warden and his assistant would have such a list. If we asked them about it and he wasn't on there... Well, that would really tell us all we need to know about him. The defense wishes to call upon the testimony of one of the leaders of the prison. They have the answers we seek regarding the witness, and we need their answer immediately," I declared.

"You think I'm not a guard because I don't have a badge and name tag? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Mr. Amstepse roared. "You're the ones jumping to conclusions! I can forget something a few times without it all being a lie! All humans forget things from time to time! It's normal! Leave me alone!"

"He seems unnaturally angry," Victoria whispered to me. "I mean, I've heard of witnesses getting angry before. I've even seen it a few times back when I still lived overseas, but this... There's something else at play here. I don't know how to describe it, but I think something else is on his mind that's painting his view of the situation. I don't have any ideas as to what it would be, but... It's bothering me."

I nodded my agreement. "Yes, I definitely see where you're coming from. This isn't right... I think we should try and break down why he's so mad. It seems like he has a grudge against the court system itself," I suggested.

I found myself looking past Mr. Amstepse to where Chief Prosecutor Bespoke and Mr. Burke were standing. The younger of the two had a pencil in one hand, the edge of which was resting in between two of his teeth, as he looked down at a piece of paper. His eyes were still obscured, but I could tell by his stillness that he was lost in thought. I couldn't help but wonder what on that paper was so entrancing to him...

"I believe we can confirm or deny this claim by merely asking the highest workers at the prison. As the defense mentioned, there is surely a list of all the people who work as guards or serve some other station within the facility. It won't be much of an issue to ask the simple question," Judge Diaphan cut in, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked up to her as she spoke before looking back to Mr. Burke. He had picked up a pencil and was writing something down slowly, his tongue sticking slightly out of his mouth. My curiosity involving his fascination with the piece of paper only grew upon seeing this. What was so intriguing about it?

"We don't want to bother the warden and his assistant. They have enough on their hands without bothering with a simple question that we really don't need the answer to. I mean, you're calling me and everything I've said into question because of a mistake. How can you do that in good conscience?" Mr. Amstepse asked, quietly fuming.

"Pointing out mistakes in testimonies is part of my job as a lawyer. Any discrepancy, no matter how small, is important. That applies here as well. Even if this really was just a mistake, we require evidence. In this case, your testimony has been called into question, which means we must ask someone else to tell us positively if we can trust you. We need evidence, and the warden and his assistant will have that evidence," I explained.

"This is ridiculous. You're jumping to conclusions. I said I was a prison guard, and you should trust me on that. You really want to call my occupation into question over something so minor? Why don't we get to the real facts of this case? That girl over there could be the killer. So could the defendant. They should be questioned before you even think about accusing me, and you all know it. Why are you going along with this when you know it's wrong?" Mr. Amstepse questioned, looking up to address the courtroom at large.

The gallery began to chatter at this statement, but Judge Diaphan didn't allow any conversation to go on for too long. She picked up her gavel and hit it against the bench before her. "Order in the court! Mr. Amstepse, it's time that you hush. We can ask the warden and his assistant the truth behind your identity. It's something the defense clearly doesn't intend on letting go of, and I'm perfectly content to pursue this until they are satisfied. Ms. Brigit raises a solid point. Your claims that it was a mistake don't hold much water given your track record up to this point. You have accused another witness' testimony of not being reliable without solid proof, which could just as easily be the accident in this case as opposed to what you claim was a mistake," she announced. "Now, let us continue."

Nobody dared to speak a word after Judge Diaphan's brief speech. It spoke volumes to everyone watching from the gallery that it was time for them to be quiet. I was appreciative of it, as the chatter from above always made it much harder to think. I found my eyes dancing over to where Mr. Burke was once again. It seemed like no matter what happened, my gaze always found his small form again. He was focused on the paper still, and from what I could see of his face, he appeared to be thinking intensely of something. I was halfway tempted to raise a question of what he was thinking of.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke seemed to share my reasoning. While he didn't openly ask anything, he did look over at what Mr. Burke was writing. I saw him glance over the lines of text apparently written there before his eyes went as wide as saucers. He picked up a pencil of his own and began to write something down on the page as well. Part of me wondered if they were writing notes to each other, but given that Mr. Burke hadn't made an attempt to exchange the paper sooner, that seemed unlikely. Instead, I was left to wonder just as I had been doing before what could be so important that it would distract him and now Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. It was starting to unsettle me.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's face grew rather pale after he finished writing. He stared down at the page in shock, looking as if it had just punched him in the face. He glanced up at me, and for one strange moment, our eyes met. He looked terrified, and the fear in his eyes was something I have trouble putting into words. I was confused, but it unnerved me as well.

However, I didn't have a chance to ask him about it. The doors to the courtroom were flung open. A person-shaped figure dashed up to the witness stand. I could hear heavy gasps of breath, but it was hard to see who it was had interrupted the trial with how quickly they were moving across the courtroom floor in a haze of excessive stumbling.

It wasn't until after Mr. Amstepse had moved aside, a shocked and angered expression on his face, that I realized who our visitor was. It was none other than Mukuro, who was holding a large envelope in one hand and holding herself up using the witness stand with the other.

"What is the meaning of this?" Judge Diaphan asked, looking ready to launch into another speech similar to the one Mr. Amstepse had received moments earlier. "You can't truly mean to interrupt the proceedings. You had better have a good reason for all of this, because if you don't-"

"We finally got back the results of the fingerprint test on the inside of the cyanide bottle!" Mukuro cried out, holding up the envelope. "The forensics team figured out who touched it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still Thursday somewhere, so this update is legal.
> 
> Also, if all goes according to plan, Galaxy of Hyperion update sometime this week. Neat.
> 
> -Digital


	20. The Falsified Turnabout, Part 10

**April 3**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**11:00 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

"Whose fingerprints were in the bottle?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked hurriedly. I got the feeling he already knew the answer, and I was sure I knew who it was as well. Mr. Amstepse was seeming incredibly suspicious, and if things went as I was hoping, then this trial would end in our favor.

"The fingerprint belongs to one Gusuthrou Amstepse," Mukuro declared, holding up the envelope for all to see. "Feel free to look over the results for yourself. It's all written right here."

I didn't even bother walking over to her to pick up my copy. Instead, I smirked and shook my head. "If you ask me, this is very important evidence... I wonder, how would his fingerprints have gotten on the inside of the bottle? Surely it wouldn't be since he was using the cyanide to poison the victim... Granted, not even the defendant's fingerprints were found inside. How could he have gotten the powder out without touching the inside of the bottle? And yet, Mr. Amstepse's prints were found inside," I mused, tapping my pointer finger against my chin. "It really does make you wonder, huh?"

I could see Mr. Amstepse starting to sweat. He looked angry, like he was ready to snap. I shook my head once again. "Mr. Amstepse, surely you have some form of explanation as to how this would occur. If you don't mind my asking, would you be alright with sharing this information with the court?" I asked, faking innocence.

Mr. Amstepse slammed his fists against the witness stand in anger. "Shut up! Stop accusing me of things when you have no proof! How can you be sure I committed this crime?! Come back to me when you have some real evidence! I'm sick of all your accusations!" he shouted. 

"This is evidence enough to show that you had something to do with the poison. You were seen leaving the crime scene. You were caught on tape by a witness. Your testimony has been proven to be unreliable. On top of all that, we now have official evidence that you were at the scene of the crime making use of the murder weapon. If you ask me, that's enough proof for us to shift our suspicion away from the defendant and turn our attention towards you. What do you have to say to that?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked, crossing his arms.

Mr. Amstepse began to breathe heavily in his anger. His face was turning red now. I could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears. I found myself taking a small step backwards in my shock, even if part of me knew it wasn't going to do much of anything. He was starting to worry me. I had seen witnesses get irritated before, but this appeared to be on a whole other level. Granted, it wasn't like Mr. Amstepse had been anything similar to a typical witness up to this point... It gave me a bad feeling I didn't know how to put into words.

Before I could fully grasp what was happening, Mr. Amstepse yanked his hat off and began to tear at it. In a matter of seconds, it was on the ground in pieces. He was yelling the entire time. However, I wasn't really paying attention to the hat that was now discarded. I was looking instead at the side of his head.

There was a large, prominent scar going down the side of his head. I had no idea what it could have come from, but I didn't like it. 

His hair was shown to be black, fading out to blonde at the edges, once his hat had been removed. His eyes were brown, something that had also been hidden by the hat up to this point. The scar upon his face was terrifying, and I felt my heart beat a little faster. Something deep down told me that we were no longer looking at the Gusuthrou Amstepse this man had introduced himself as. I couldn't tell you what explained that to me, but I was almost sure of it.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke looked down at the paper Mr. Burke had been writing on up to this point. He shook his head quietly. "I should have seen this coming... Your name is an anagram of Augustus Emsthorpe. It's good to know the leader of the Emsthorpe crime ring would be willing to grace us with his presence here today," he remarked, crossing his arms. 

I could have sworn my heart skipped a beat. Emsthorpe? The leader of the Emsthorpe crime ring was here with us today and had probably committed a murder. I didn't know much about him, but what I had heard painted him to be a terrifying and cruel man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted done. He was ruthless and known for his abilities in crime.

"That must be what Anton was writing down on the paper... Maybe he realized something was up and wanted to figure out what it was. Who knew the little guy had it in him?" Yuri asked. I could tell she was joking to keep the mood from becoming too heavy. Despite this, I could still tell she had gotten much paler. She was just as frightened as the rest of us were even if she was trying to put up a strong front.

"This makes a lot of sense given what we heard from Detective Wattson and Mr. Erikson... The Emsthorpe crime group was founded because the victim killed the leader's father many years ago with his evidence forgery leading to a false conviction... I didn't think we would run into any assassins, but... I guess life can surprise you," Victoria sighed with a shake of her head. I noticed her fingers were digging into the bench before her. She looked ready to pass out from pure shock, and I couldn't blame her. She wasn't used to these life or death situations like the rest of us were. Besides, even if I had been put through this situation with assassins multiple times, I still wasn't used to it. Fearing for your life still left you in a state of shock regardless of how frequently it happened.

"You committed this crime to get back at the victim for what he did all those years ago, didn't you?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked. He was keeping surprisingly calm given the situation at hand. I almost envied him for how relaxed he was behaving. I couldn't bring myself to take a deep breath with what was going on around me.

"He deserved it!" Mr. Amstepse, or should I say, Mr. Emsthorpe, roared. "The legal system failed all those years ago to lock him up, and an evidence forgery charge wasn't going to keep that damn fool down for long enough, so I had to finish the job myself! You all would have done the same if you were in my shoes for all these miserable years!"

"He got away with the murder your father was framed with, and as a result... Everything came crashing down around you..." Yuri murmured with a shake of her head. "All because he wanted a perfect win record... I'll never understand people like him. Victory is never more valuable than a human life, and nothing will ever change that. He was a fool for thinking his status and reputation was more important than the lives of many innocent people."

"He harmed the lives of countless people. He put others at risk solely because it would benefit him. Someone like that cannot be allowed to live. I did the world a favor by getting rid of that scum. You should be thanking me rather than treating me with scrutiny," Mr. Emsthorpe snarled.

"What do you want?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked, a frown on his face. "You must have had some reason to appear here today. This is your messiest crime yet, undoubtedly because you were blinded by your emotions and hatred towards the victim. And yet... You still came back. You must have had a reason for this. Why?"

Mr. Emsthorpe looked over at him before shaking his head. "You underestimate me. I have no intentions of being caught here. I know what I'm doing. Besides... I had an important message to deliver, and I was going to be telling its recipient here today," he declared.

"What are you talking about?" Judge Diaphan questioned. She was remaining rather calm given the situation. Granted, it did seem in her nature. It was like nothing could get under her skin. I was impressed, if I was being perfectly honest. Had I been in her shoes, tasked with keeping everyone calm while holding my own panic back, I would have lost it. I was good at hiding my emotions, yes, but this was something else completely.

"It's for them," Mr. Emsthorpe announced, looking sharply over to where I was standing next to Yuri and Victoria.

I instinctively took a small step back under the intensity of his glare. "Us?" I gasped, my eyes wide. I knew something was up about this. If he really wanted to talk to us... Well, it must have been serious if he was willing to put so much on the line. 

"Yes. It's about your pathetic little agency. Someone in your ranks is not who you suspect," Mr. Emsthorpe told us. "I can't say how I came across this information nor who it is. That's for you to figure out. For now, all I can do is provide you with this helpful little hint."

"You... You can't be serious," Victoria murmured. "One of us is..."

"You have a traitor in your agency. It's rather simple. Of course, what you choose to do with this information is entirely your choice. It's not something for me to decide at the end of the day. I can't tell you what to do, now, can I? Instead, I'm going to take this chance to leave," Mr. Emsthorpe declared. He was considerably calmer now than he had been before. The change was so drastic I halfway expected him to reveal there were two sides to him. However, I bit my tongue and watched as Mr. Emsthorpe walked towards the doors of the courtroom.

He paused just before the exit before turning his head over his shoulder to look at Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. "For the record, I suggest calling off whatever backup you have lurking in the shadows outside. If someone tries to harm me... Well, all of you are going to suffer greatly at the hands of the Emsthorpe ring," he said simply.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke shrugged and shook his head. "I have nothing up my sleeve. Sorry to disappoint you. I just figured out the truth behind your true identity myself. Until now, I thought you were just a prison guard," he told the assassin.

"I'm glad we're in agreement here," Mr. Emsthorpe scoffed. He walked through the courtroom doors calmly before disappearing from sight.

I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until he left. I looked to Yuri and Victoria, hearing my heart pound loudly in my ears. This didn't even feel real. We found the culprit, but he was in truth an assassin out for revenge. Now, he was out in the world, free, since we didn't realize backup would be required for this case. 

"I'll send people after him," Judge Diaphan declared.

"Why didn't we just try and take care of him while he was still here?" Victoria asked, looking to me.

"That man... He's dangerous. He's been assassinating legal figures for over a decade. Ever since his father was executed, he's been taking his revenge against the justice system. He believes that it's justified since he suffered when he was younger. If we tried to eliminate him while he was still here... He's a dangerous man, as I already said. He had something up his sleeve, and if we tried anything, everyone in this courtroom would be in danger," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained.

"For someone who's an assassin, that crime scene really wasn't as clean as one would expect," Yuri murmured. "I mean, it was so easy for us to figure out who did it once we knew he existed. It was almost like he wasn't really trying... Is that rude to say?"

"I think there was an emotional factor in all of this. Chief Prosecutor Bepsoke mentioned it before. He was finally around the man who indirectly caused the death of his father. I imagine he lost all sense of focus the instant he had the chance to go in for revenge... We need to find him. He's dangerous to leave out there. If he hurts anyone else... I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself," I muttered with a shake of my head.

"I suppose that explains why he got so angry at Ms. Anderson outside the interrogation room. He was already flustered from having to face his past like that, so seeing someone in a place they shouldn't have been probably riled him up. In an attempt to get things over and done with, he lashed out at her... I'm only happy she didn't get hurt further. With someone that dangerous in front of her, things could have gone seriously wrong," Victoria said. "We got lucky in that regard."

"I think it's time to end this trial once and for all. After this, it's time for us to go out there and track that man down," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cut in. I could see some unspoken tension written on his face. He was desperate to get out of the courtroom to begin the search. I was worried about him, if I'm being perfectly honest. He had just told us how dangerous this man was, and he seemed ready to throw himself in, knowing fully it was risky, to figure out his true location. We didn't know each other all that well, but our collaborative efforts in the past had gotten me to care loosely for his safety, and I didn't want him to be put in the line of fire to find such a dangerous criminal.

"I must agree," Judge Diaphan nodded. "While we were unable to capture the culprit in the end, it's time for me to declare my verdict. I'm positive neither sides have any objections to such."

I looked over at Chief Prosecutor Bespoke silently. Neither of us spoke a word. I looked to Mr. Burke next. He was clinging tightly to his companion's arm. Yuri and Victoria were the next to receive my gaze, but neither one of them dared to meet my eyes. Instead, they stared down at the desk, their faces as pale as could be.

"Good. In that case, this court now finds Toby Erikson not guilty. Court is adjourned!" Judge Diaphan declared. She picked up her gavel and slammed it down, indicating to all that the trial was over.

However, part of me told me things were just beginning.

**April 3**

**Courtroom No. 3**

**11:30 AM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

After we left the courtroom, I realized my head was pounding and my heart was racing. I had been sure my near-death experiences would end with the capture of Occisor, but clearly I was incorrect. So much had been said at the end of that trial... I needed some time to mull over it.

I was still in shock over having come into contact with Augustus Emsthorpe. He was not a man you wanted to cross. Just being in the same room as him terrified me out of my mind. To think, I had been around him for so long without even knowing...

He had committed this crime as revenge against the victim for being responsible for the death of his father. It made sense, but it still felt unreal. I knew the killer had to have had some form of grudge against the victim, but I couldn't have seen this coming. Clearly, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke had some way of figuring such a thing out though. He had likely recognized the man from the scar on the side of his head. It was rather distinctive, and while I didn't know much about him, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke naturally had some ideas as to what he looked like as one of the most important legal figures in the city.

The next thing to spring to mind was what he had told us at the end. Mr. Emsthorpe was willing to risk everything to tell us that for some sick, twisted reason. He had been so angry, like he was ready to snap someone's neck, but he calmed down when he remembered he had something important to say. He realized he couldn't let his emotions get the better of him, as he had a message to deliver.

There was a traitor at the agency... I truly couldn't believe it. I had been working with these people for so long. Lily, Yuri, Chrysalis, and Mr. Morix were practically family by now. As for Victoria, we hadn't known each other that well up until this case, but she seemed to have a pleasant personality. She was sweet and, according to Yuri, nerdy. I couldn't imagine her betraying us. After seeing how she behaved on this case, she really did seem like she wanted to find the truth, even if she was new to the job.

As for Cormous, I didn't know him very well, so I couldn't say for sure. Then again, I couldn't be positive on any of them. How did I even know that what Mr. Emsthorpe had said was true? Maybe I was working myself up over nothing. Perhaps he had said that as a way of shaking our confidence in each other so we'd falter later. I didn't know what his reasoning was, but I didn't like it. My head was buzzing just thinking of all the possibilities for the truth behind what he had said.

If he was lying, why would he go so far? I mean, it would shake our confidence, but we didn't have anything to do with the Emsthorpe crime ring. The only significant crime group we knew anything about was Occisor, and its members were already locked up. If he was telling the truth, why bother? I mean, if we knew someone in our party couldn't be trusted, then that would mean the whole point of a mole would be obliterated. Even if we didn't know who it was, we would watch our language much more and keep more secrets. Maybe that was their intention. I had no idea. My mind was too busy running a million miles an hour to even think of concentrating on logic.

"Deirdre."

I turned upon hearing the voice behind me. It was none other than 'Ms. Anderson'. She was staring at me intently. There was an odd mix of anger and sadness reflected in her gaze. "It's not going to happen," she told me bluntly. I noticed her hands were clenched tightly into fists. 

"I understand," I murmured. I had completely forgotten about this part. She had been planning to explain everything to the other people in our agency, but that wasn't an option now. It was far too risky to say something like that, something about Oracle, the current spearhead of revolution for this system, when there could be a mole in the group. It wasn't something we could take a chance on.

"This is too much for me right now. I can't even think about telling anyone else what we talked about yesterday... For all I know, just talking to you about it was a mistake. I don't know what's going on right now, but I really can't stand to do all of this. For now, I'm done. I need some time to myself," 'Ms. Anderson' said. "I'm leaving with my brother for the day. Agency's closed for the rest of the day while we figure out what to do. I hope you enjoy your impromptu day off."

I couldn't find the right words to say as I watched her walk away. No matter how many phrases attempted to come through my lips, I kept them all inside. I really didn't know what to do. There was so much steaming around in my head. It was hard to focus.

"Hey, Deirdre."

Yuri and Victoria appeared in front of me, making me jump. They appeared to be just as disheartened as I was. "Detective Erikson told us to give you his thanks. He's heading home now. As for us... Well, I guess we have other things to take care of for the time being as well," Yuri remarked with a shake of her head.

"The agency is closed for the rest of the day," I frowned. "I guess we'll just be heading home after this. Mr. Morix isn't going to be letting anyone inside for quite a while."

"What are we supposed to do now? Are we just going to have to wait and see what Mr. Morix decides to do? Will we even have jobs after this?" Victoria asked. Her speech was getting faster with each passing question. 

"Victoria, it'll be fine. I'm sure that he and Chrysalis know what they're doing. They'll talk things over for a little bit and then consider their options. I don't know what their plan is from here on out, but all we can really do at this point is trust them. I'm sure they have a plan, and if they don't, they'll make one. In the meantime, we'll just have to wait and go back to our own lives," I assured her.

"This really doesn't fill me with a good feeling... I mean, I know there really isn't much we can do about it, but... I don't know. I guess I'll see you later," Yuri shrugged before shaking her head. She turned and began walking towards the door, Victoria following after her silently.

I watched them go before sighing and shaking my head. I really didn't know where this was going to be going, but I didn't like it. Who knew that one case could throw such a wrench into the dynamic we had spent so long perfecting? I didn't know what to do about it, nor did I have any ideas on how to respond, but all I could do for now was wait, even if that was the last thing I wanted to do.

**April 3**

**Unknown Location**

**6:30 AM**

**Unknown Perspective**

When my girlfriend got home, she didn't say much of anything to me. She said that she had other things to take care of for the night before heading back into her room. I watched her leave silently, knowing fully well that she wasn't in the mood to talk. I couldn't entirely blame her. A lot had happened today, and it wasn't my place to snoop deeply into her personal affairs. If she wanted my help, she would come for it. Keeping away was killing me inside, but there wasn't much else I could do about it. I didn't want to cling too tightly to her, as that would only make things tense between us.

I sat down on my bed and grabbed a picture from the bedside table. It was of me and my mother from back before she had passed away. It had been years since her death, but I still thought of it. Everything had changed after I met her. 

If I was going to be technical, she was my adopted mother. I had lost my true family and didn't have anywhere or anyone to turn to, and she gladly accepted me with open arms. I owed everything to her, but in the end, I was unable to keep her free from the grasp of death. She had met the same fate as my birth family, and I couldn't do a thing about it.

My world crumbled the day that she died. Well, it broke a second time. Before that, everything fell apart around me when my birth family died. When I was lost and alone, she took me in, and within a year, she was gone as well. It had been the worst year of my life, but remembering the time my adopted mother had shared with me made me happy even now. A lot had happened, but I was still thankful for all she had done to help me. I hadn't been given the chance to pay her back, which still upset me to this day, but I was happy to remember her despite the bitter ending we had shared.

I wound up setting the photo down not long after. It was relatively early in the evening, but it felt like I had been awake for years. I had heard about all my girlfriend had gone through that day, and I truly didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to either as far as I could tell. For now, I would give her space, but if she hadn't talked about it after a few days, I would approach her and see if she would be willing to talk.

In the meantime, I was ready to get some sleep. Even if it was early, I didn't care. Today had been draining for her, and just hearing about it sapped my energy as well. This would do me some good for tomorrow anyways.

I shut my eyes and found my mind wandering. I heard about the Emsthorpe assassin getting away with murder. Everyone knew he had done it, but he escaped from the courtroom after confessing to his crime. Apparently, the victim had caused the crime ring to form to begin with all those years ago. It made me wish I could time travel back to all those years ago and prevent all of this from happening. If that man had been stopped from committing such crimes back then, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now. It really did make you stop to think about the butterfly effect for a minute.

I was worried about the members of that law agency the assassin had mentioned. They now had to deal with the possibility of a traitor after having heard such from an assassin. If I had been in their shoes, I would have been terrified. I was scared for them, and I didn't even know them all that well. I hoped they'd be able to find a way to sort everything out soon. They deserved to have some peace of mind after they had done something as amazing as exposing a murderer and assassin for his crimes. Instead, they were met with yet another huge problem they would be forced to overcome if they wanted to see success in the future. I couldn't even imagine how stressful it must have been for them.

I found myself shaking it off the best I could. Despite my efforts, I couldn't really help the fear that crept itself into my mind. This wasn't my life, but I was still worried. I didn't know what to do about it. I felt like it was my duty to help them out, but I couldn't really do much of anything. I had to stay away. I didn't have a choice.

Maybe I was just avoiding it. I mean, I could have gone after them, talked to them again after spending so much time apart, but I couldn't bring myself to. They had bigger fish to fry than to focus on me. I would be a distraction at a time when it wasn't opportune. In the future, maybe there would be a chance for me to reach out again and show them what I had been up to all those years, but now wasn't the time. I wasn't ready, and they weren't either. Until everyone was prepared, I would just have to keep my distance, even if the very thought made me feel awful. There wasn't a choice for either party yet anyways. I would have to endure it no matter what my personal reservations were on the matter.

There was still a chance I was avoiding them and all that I had to apologize for. I couldn't say for sure. With my mind blurred as it was between worry and panic and the million other thoughts running through my head, thinking clearly was a chore I didn't wish to bother with. It was far too exhausting for me to deal with after all that had taken place. I needed some time to relax. A good night's sleep would do me a world of help, and maybe it would assist in clearing my fuzzed brain. There were no guarantees, but I was willing to go for anything at this point. I was growing more desperate with each passing minute. 

I did my best to clear my mind of all that plagued it despite the many difficulties getting in my way. Tomorrow was the time for worry. For the time being, I needed to find a way to relax. I would need to be my girlfriend's rock for the next few days as she processed the information shared during the trial. Until she was feeling better, I had to take charge and be there for her. I couldn't slip up now. She needed me now more than ever. 

By some miracle, I did manage to drift off to sleep. It was restless and left me waking up many times during the night, but it was something. I managed to go a night without having nightmares about the deaths of my family, but I was instead greeted with dreams pertaining to the deaths of those lawyers at the Morix Law Offices. I didn't like either outcome and wished I knew how to stop the latter from happening more than anything else in the world. 

**THE FALSIFIED TURNABOUT**

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is coming out late since I have the attention span of a literal fish
> 
> -Digital


	21. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 1

"So, you've been looking for me... Strange. I didn't realize anybody was trying to track little old me down. You must have some serious guts."

_"I know who you are... You're an agent of the Emsthorpes. You're responsible for killing countless people because of a wrong from long ago."_

"Oh, I'm not like the Emsthorpes. I'm here because of the pay. Being a hitman gives you a lot of money. It's not like I need it or anything. I guess it just makes life that little bit sweeter."

_"You don't have to do this. It doesn't have to end this way. It's not necessary to go this far, to do all this. There's still something out there for people like you. There's always a second chance for you, if you'll just change your ways and try to reach out for the future you need in order to be a good person."_

"When you're in my shoes, you'll understand... Ah, wait. You'll never be in my shoes. It all ends here and now for you. In fact, you'll never be able to do anything ever again. Goodbye."

_"Wait--"_

"And just like that, all is as it should be. I'll be taking these... Now, enjoy your eternal sleep, sir. I'll be off reading through whatever nasty things you've written about me... You knew what you were getting into. You only have yourself to blame. Now, it's time for you to get out of here. I'll be seeing you at the crime scene of your murder."

****April 21** **

****Morix Law Offices** **

****2:10 PM** **

****Chrysalis Starr** **

Some time had passed since our incident with the Emsthorpe killer during the prison murder. Nobody had been in the agency aside from me and Cotoli since then. We couldn't take that risk. It was just too dangerous to let others come inside with us.

We didn't know what to do with the rumors of a traitor floating around. For all we knew, it was a lie composed by the Emsthorpes meant to throw us off. However, there wasn't anything concrete to disprove it either. He didn't seem to be lying during the trial. We didn't have a clue as to where we should go next. There had been a lot of uncertainty in the weeks since the accusation on Augustus Emsthorpe. Everything had been a blur after the trial.

I didn't know who I could trust. I believed my brother knew what he was doing when he hired Victoria and Cormous, but I also couldn't imagine that our older employees who had been around through the whole Oracle and Occisor incident were the culprits either. I was scared, to say the least. I had told half of them my secret regarding Oracle, which I did not want to fall into the hands of the Emsthorpes. It would be a one-step process to getting me and my coworkers assassinated.

I managed to drag myself out of my room at the agency for the first time in a while. Cotoli and I had been planning on moving in with Polly and Anton for a while, but our plans on mobilization had been brought to a screeching halt by the rumors of treachery. My room was on the empty side since everything was packed up in a box somewhere, and if it wasn't, it was hiding behind said boxes. I couldn't bring myself to leave very often, but it was refreshing to get away from all that cardboard.

The TV remote was sitting blankly on the main table in the hangout area of the agency. I picked it up and flipped the TV on. I needed a break from sitting around and moping while thinking of our next step. It had been lonely lately with everyone out of the agency for this thinking period. I did like the quiet, but it felt somewhat barren. In other words, it did nothing to help my worsening depression.

I found myself sitting on the couch and leaning back. I shut my eyes and let the mindless chatter of the TV enter my head. I didn't know what was happening or even what was on, but I didn't care. Anything to fill the quiet was enough for me.

Cotoli walked in a few seconds later and sat down beside me. "How are you doing?" he asked, setting an arm on the head of the couch behind me. "You're out of your room, so I guess things are looking up at least a little bit."

I shrugged loosely. "I guess. I still don't know what to do about all of this. I trust that you knew what you were doing with Cormous and Victoria. As for Deirdre, Lily, and Yuri, I think I can put my faith in them after what happened with the Interpol case all those months ago. But then that brings me back to Cormous and Victoria, and I told you already that I trust you. It's a vicious cycle. I don't know what to do about it. I just feel like curling up into a ball and hiding in my room forever. It won't make the problem go away, but..." My sentence trailed off. I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know."

"Even if it's not true, it's a heavy enough accusation that we should try and look into it. We need to figure out what's going on before bringing them back. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, but I'm still not sure what we should do next," Cotoli told me.

"I hope we figure it out soon. I can't stand much more of this sulking. I feel like I'm just getting worse and hating my life more the longer we have to put up with this. I only leave to go to school. When I'm not there, I'm back here, sulking as I was before. It's exhausting to deal with, but I don't know what else to do. It's not like hanging out with friends will help me. I'm scared of trusting them. Plus, even if I can trust them, I don't want to drag them down," I said, my speech rapidly hastening.

"Deep breaths, Chrysalis," Cotoli warned, moving his arm to wrap it around my shoulders. He pulled me in closer, and I leaned against him. "You're okay. We're going to figure this out. In the meantime, try and stay calm. It's okay to be cautious, but I want you to keep from having constant panic attacks. You have enough as it is."

"I know that I should try and calm down, but... You're not really one to tell me to be calm. You're the most panicky person I know. Someone looks at either of us wrong, and you lose it. You think we could be in danger. I understand your concern, but... God, I don't even know what I'm saying at this point. I guess I just mean that I may be a wreck, but you are too," I mumbled.

"I know I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here, but I'm trying my best to be calm too. You should make an attempt at the very least. It'll do you some good. You know you can trust Neptune, so why not call her over here for a little while? She's done a lot to help you out," Cotoli suggested.

"I don't know. Can I really trust Neptune? She knew about the Oracle project when she really shouldn't have. We haven't told her anything officially, but she still popped up with full knowledge of everything related to the project," I frowned. "It's such a pain to deal with. I just want to bang my head up against the wall thinking about this mess! When is it going to be over?" 

"I have no idea. I really wish I could tell you, Chrysalis, but I don't know what we're going to do or how we're going to do it. Until then, we should try and do something to get you out of this slump. It's not healthy for you to be like this. I know how you get. It's a slippery slope to falling down a rabbit hole. The last time you got like this, Venus had just died, and you didn't get over that for months. Before then, it was Pieter... And when he left, you started the Oracle project. You do some risky things when you get emotional like this," Cotoli reminded me.

"It's not good, I know, but..." I couldn't figure out how to finish my sentence, so I just fell silent.

"I never said it was a bad thing. Besides, the Oracle project leaving you dangerous wasn't even your fault. Jackson Blocker exposed your existence to the world. You act drastically, and sometimes, that's what people need. I mean, this city was a train wreck before we started the Oracle project. Even now, there's still a lot of work to be done, but some progress is better than none, right?" Cotoli pointed out.

"I suppose. I'm still at a loss for what to do, but this is a start," I murmured, nuzzling up closer to him. Cotoli was the one person who was able to make me feel safe when nobody else could. He had that special influence, I supposed. Maybe it was a family thing. Sora had it too, but then again, she could calm anybody down no matter what.

The TV, which had been prattling on mindlessly in the background, suddenly went dark. I frowned and looked around. Cotoli didn't have the remote in his hand, as it was still sitting vacantly on the table in front of us. I glanced in his direction. He seemed confused. We looked back to the TV, wondering what had happened.

A flash appeared on the screen before a person with red hair showed themselves. It was a young woman with blonde highlights. She had a microphone in her hand as she stood in front of a camera. It took me a moment to realize where she was, but once I did figure it out, my jaw dropped.

"That's the Prosecutor's Office," Cotoli said, beating me to the punch.

"It is," I nodded, looking his way once again. "Did something happen?"

The reporter on the screen answered my question immediately after it left my lips.  _"This is Ayano Tsukasa. I'm reporting from outside the Prosecutor's Office today. Word of a murder has come from the building. The crime supposedly took place earlier today, but we are unsure of the details as of present,"_ the woman explained.

"No way," I murmured, glancing back to Cotoli. My heart immediately began to speed up. I hoped Ghastly and Sora were okay. Polly and Anton worked there too. Plus, there were all of the nice prosecutors we had met on court cases in the past like Prosecutor Cruz and Lily's older brother.

A young man appeared on the screen before dashing up to the side of the reporter. He began to whisper something frantically into her ear, which she listened to intently after pointing the microphone away from her face and shielding it with one hand. She nodded every so often to show she was listening.

"I hope everyone is alright," Cotoli muttered. "I don't want them hurt, and this... It's bad news."

The young man darted off as Ayano continued talking.  _"We just got a report on who the victim is. It's a prosecutor by the name of Luis Cruz. He was found dead in his office, though the current cause of death is unknown. The police have not made a statement as of yet. We will be sharing more information as this story develops, but until then, stay tuned and be cautious. We aren't sure if a suspect has been taken into custody yet because of the police staying quiet on the matter. We have asked for a statement but have received no response. If we get an update, we will announce it here. Until next time, stay safe, everyone,"_  Ayano told the camera.

I simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief and felt a pang of sadness at my heart. Cruz was the last name of one of the prosecutors we knew well. His name was Luis Cruz, and if I had to wager a guess, he was related to the Prosecutor Vito Cruz we knew so well. If they were related, how was it? I hadn't ever heard the one I knew mention anyone named Luis. We didn't interact much, sure, but it still left me in the dark, the last thing I wanted to be right then.

"I think this is our chance to get up and be active again," Cotoli said, rising to his feet. He held out his hand to help me stand as well. "Come on. Let's go and investigate this case. If we can snag a place as the defense attorneys, then we can get you out of this slump you've been having. Plus, it'll be a perfect minor distraction until we can figure out what to do next."

"Wait... You mean, the two of us?" I asked in shock. "When was the last time something like that happened? It was back before we brought Deirdre, Lily, and Yuri on board, and that was over a year ago. Are you sure you don't want to ask anybody else to come onto this case instead? I know I'm not exactly the best partner since I can't focus on the investigation perfectly with my job."

"You're just fine, Chrysalis. Don't worry yourself. I don't think we've had a chance to do this in... God, two years? I was partnered up with Venus for a long time since you were trying to get the Oracle project on its feet following Pieter's disappearance. If it's really been so long, perhaps it's time for us to get out and see the world. It's been long enough already," Cotoli pressed.

"Well... If you're really positive... I guess it wouldn't hurt," I shrugged. "It's not like I'm doing much with Oracle business right now anyways. I'm too nervous something is going to go horribly wrong to even bother doing something. It's not the most productive, but what can you do? Mental health says no, so I have to listen to it, as annoying as it may be."

"It'll do you some good to check out other locations anyways. We don't have a suspect yet, so we don't have a client, but our relationship with Ghastly should be enough to help us get into the crime scene to at least look around," Cotoli pointed out. "We don't even know for sure if we'll be able to take up the defense in case the person arrested is guilty, but with the high rate of false arrests... Well, you know where I'm going with this. Chances are we'll be on it, and we can have a jump start."

"Alright," I nodded. "Let's get going then. That crime scene isn't going to investigate itself." 

****April 21** **

****Prosecutor’s Office** **

****2:50 PM** **

****Chrysalis Starr** **

The Prosecutor’s Office was absolutely overwhelmed with police officers when we arrived. I walked towards the building slowly with Cotoli at my side. I didn’t know how to approach this place. This murder certainly seemed to be causing a stir, though in my eyes, it was completely justified.

“We need to find someone who knows what they’re doing,” Cotoli suggested, looking around the edge of the building. He was easily able to see above everyone’s head thanks to his gift in the verticality department. I, on the other hand, was left waiting to see what he could find. I swear, you’d neer guess we were related with how different we looked.

I noticed a young man about my age standing nearby. He looked pretty nervous about what was happening around him. He had brown hair that had been roughly combed down with matching brown eyes. There were flight goggles propped up on his forehead. He had a black leather jacket on over a red shirt. To complete the look, he had black jeans and brown boots.

“He does not look like he knows what he’s doing,” Cotoli remarked, looking to the same young man I had been focusing my attention on. “It seems to me like he’s on the scene of a crime for the first time. Perhaps we should hold off on approaching him until he figures out what it is he’s meant to be doing. I don’t want to overwhelm him further.”

“Wait,” I murmured, pointing to the person standing beside the confused young man. “That’s someone we know. That’s Detective Wattson, as a matter of fact.”

“In that case, let’s go see how she’s doing. If she’s on this case, then maybe we’ll be able to hear more about what’s going on,” Cotoli suggested.

I nodded my response and followed Cotoli over to where the two were standing. He tapped the older of the two people on the shoulder. “Um, excuse me... Detective Wattson?”

Detective Wattson turned around, a wide smile on her face. “Hello, love,” she greeted cheerfully. “What are you two doing here? Do you two happen to be related to the investigation?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” I said with a loose but forced smile. “We heard something happened here. A reporter did something about it on TV, and it interrupted a program with breaking news.”

“Ah... Well, something did happen. A prosecutor was found dead in his office,” Prosecutor Wattson frowned. “He had been hit in the head with something heavy and was killed instantly thanks to the blunt force trauma. We just got a suspect in, though I don’t think I personally would have arrested her... The police officers seemed happy to do the deed for me before I arrived, even if I’m the lead attorney on the case. How frustrating.”

“Who is the suspect? The report we saw didn’t say anything about who had been arrested,” Cotoli explained.

“Ah... We don’t know much about her. She doesn’t speak any English and seemed terrified when she was found near the body. As far as I can tell, she’s only fluent in Italian. We haven’t been able to find a translator for her. However, some digging through her belongings told us her name is Lira Giuseppe. She’s from Italy and was here for a visit to see some family members,” Detective Wattson told us.

“So, we’re defending an Italian here on a visit... Hm. I didn’t expect that,” I murmured. “Did she have any connection to the victim? Do you think they knew each other?”

“I don’t know yet. Our investigation hasn’t shown any connections between her and the victim. As a matter of fact, we can’t figure out if she knows anyone over here. She’s only about nineteen as far as I can tell, but she doesn’t know any English, which seems odd. Good luck getting any information out of her. Unless either of you knows how to speak Italian, we’re all going to be at a roadblock for the time being,” Detective Wattson said. She didn’t seem at all satisfied about the situation at hand.

“Do you really think she did it? You mentioned that you didn’t think you would have arrested her if you had been here,” I wondered, placing one hand on my chin. “Is there someone else who would have had a motive to kill the victim? I have some friends in the Prosecutor’s Office, and I never heard anything about the victim being hated.”

“I don’t think anyone would have wanted to do so... So far, we know that he was well-liked and didn’t get into fights with anyone. I find it strange that the police think an Italian girl would have come over from Europe to kill someone who likely would have treated her well. I’ve worked with Prosecutor Cruz before, and he doesn’t seem like the type who would cause her trouble,” Detective Wattson answered.

“It really does make you wonder... I don’t know what to think of all this. If the victim was kind and wouldn’t hurt anyone, why would a girl who had never come to America before want to kill him? It seems like a lot of jumping to conclusions to me... Actually, I know exactly why this is. People are scared of what they don’t understand, and they probably heard Italian coming out of her mouth and thought she was a ‘terrible foreigner’. To be perfectly honest, humans are the worst,” I mumbled with a shake of my head.

“Do you think we’d be able to investigate the scene of the crime? It sounds like the defendant didn’t kill the victim, so we want to help her out. She’s lost and alone in a country of people who don’t know how to communicate with her. We can at least stand by her side and help her out of a tough spot,” Cotoli said to Detective Wattson. He had always been better at socializing than I was.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to talk to the defendant until after the police are finished questioning her, so for the time being, let’s take you two up to the crime scene. I’m sure she’ll be glad to accept the help of anyone willing to aid her given the situation she’s in,” Detective Wattson told us.

I focused my attention back on the young man standing at her side. “Oh, yeah. I forgot to ask, but who’s this?” I questioned, looking at him with a tilt of my head.

The young man looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. I took a small step back so as not to frighten him further.

Detective Wattson placed an arm around his companion’s shoulders. “Ah, this little guy? This is Aiden Hayes. He’s a detective-in-training, just like Mukuro. He’s about her age too. He’s planning on studying to become a detective when he’s old enough, but he asked for some hands-on experience before going off to college. I’m going to be watching over him for the foreseeable future,” the older detective explained. “He’s a kind young man. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Um... Hello,” Aiden said, waving stiffly. He looked my brother up and down with wide eyes. If I had to guess, he was intimidated by how tall my older brother was. I couldn’t fault him for that. Cotoli was huge and seeing him startled even me for a long time when he was going through his growth spurt so many years ago.

“Now, let’s go on and take you up to the crime scene,” Detective Wattson cut in, gesturing for us to follow her. We walked away from the crowd of police officers and into the building. I was personally glad to be away from the general hubbub and noisiness of the outdoors. The sound could get a bit overwhelming at times with my anxiety, and the worsening state of my depression due to the Emsthorpe accusation wasn’t helping it at all.

I followed Detective Wattson and Aiden mindlessly up the stairs to the building. We walked over to the elevator, and Aiden pressed a button on the wall for the tenth floor. In the Prosecutor’s Office, the higher the floor a given office was on, the more respect they had within the field. If he was on floor ten out of twelve, he definitely knew what he was doing.

“Rumor has it he was set up to become the next chief prosecutor when Ghastly Bespoke came into the position about three years ago. However, he turned down the position since he preferred to stand in court rather than do all his work from a secluded office away from the courtroom. He was well-respected among the people here. He’s been working in this office since the days of Alphonse Clarence. They started working here at about the same time. One of them strayed down the path of corruption, but our victim remained true to his ideals,” Detective Wattson explained as we continued ascending to the above floors.

The doors to the elevator opened as we arrived at our destination. We walked into the hallway and went towards the office where the victim was found. I gulped nervously as Detective Wattson pushed the door open and the bloodied crime scene was shown.

There was a desk obscuring much of the body. A man was collapsed on the ground, blood surrounding his head. A briefcase was sitting nearby, dried blood crusted on the corner. The man had bright white hair, and I recognized the color as the same shade of Prosecutor Cruz’s hair. There was no doubt in my mind now that they were related somehow, even if I didn’t know what the connection exactly was yet.

Luckily, Cotoli seemed to have the same thoughts as me. “Does he happen to be related to a Prosecutor Vito Cruz?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes. The two are a father and son prosecutor duo. I hear they were rather close up until his death... It really does make you sad to think about... He had a daughter as well. In fact, she was the one who discovered the crime scene. I think she’s with her brother now. If you can believe it, he’s going to be the prosecutor for this case. He really wants to find out who killed his father, even if it could mean risk to himself,” Detective Wattson answered.

“That’s... I don’t know what to think of that. I understand why he’d want to get involved, as I’m sure his father was important to him, and he’d want to make sure the culprit was caught. However, it could easily hurt him more than help. Grief can make us do ridiculous things in an attempt to find happiness,” I murmured with a shake of my head.

“I don’t know about if it’s a good idea either, but I can’t exactly stop him. He’s determined to figure out who murdered his father, and he’s not listening to anyone who tells him to get off the case. I guess we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t wind up too emotionally scarred in other ways,” Detective Wattson frowned.

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Cotoli assured her.

“In the meantime, feel free to look around the crime scene. If you find anything, please tell me. I’ll be working with you two more than the police force. They didn’t get my agreement on the arrest, and I truly don’t believe the defendant committed the crime,” Detective Wattson continued. “I somehow doubt Prosecutor Cruz was involved in it either. It’s rare for a prosecutor to get involved before a detective. Even if he acted rashly in his grief, it’s obvious the defendant is not to blame. There are far too many loose ends and making an arrest like this feels very out of character for him. You know what I’m saying here, right?”

“I hear you for sure,” I nodded. “Were there any witnesses to the crime?”

“There were two. One of them was the victim’s daughter, Nikki Cruz. She found a chair propped up against the door with the dead body of her father and the defendant locked inside. The defendant came out, crying and stuttering. Nikki called the police after noticing the body, and they arrived shortly afterwards. The ruckus caused another prosecutor, one Elec Daegana, to appear soon after. He examined the crime scene briefly before leaving. He was gone by the time the police had arrived, and we found him back in his office later on. We don’t know what he did at the scene of the crime, but he must have done something,” Detective Wattson told us.

“I see... There’s certainly evidence to show that the defendant didn’t commit this crime. After all, how could she lock herself in that room? Why would she do such a thing when it would cause her to be suspected?” I asked.

“Some police think that she was locked in there by another party who believed her to have committed the crime. However, I don’t really buy that. If you think about it, then the person who would have supposedly locked her in there would have wanted to stick around to ensure she didn’t escape. Besides, we haven’t heard anything about another party calling the police. It was just Nikki Cruz,” Detective Wattson continued. “On top of that, there’s the matter of the death itself to think about.”

“The death itself?” Cotoli echoed.

“Yes. The killing blow was dealt to the back of the head. The victim died instantly when it made impact. However, the hit came from the same height. The defendant is much shorter than the victim. She couldn’t have hit him with the briefcase at her height. She would have had to stand on something, but there isn’t any evidence of a stool or other object being used to reach the victim. The only object with potential was the chair, but it already was being used to lock the defendant in the room,” Detective Wattson explained.

“Hm... If you ask me, there’s a lot of fishy business going on with this case. Perhaps we should take this chance to talk to the witnesses and hear what they saw at the time of the crime. Since the defendant seems innocent, they must have something to say about what she did when the victim was killed,” Cotoli suggested.

“That sounds good to me. Nikki Cruz should be with her brother, and since he’s the prosecutor, he’s bound to be around here somewhere. With a little searching, I’m sure you’ll find them both,” Detective Wattson said. “I’ll come and find you after I get the autopsy report in. Until then, I wish you good luck in your investigation.”

“Thank you, Detective Wattson,” I nodded as Cotoli and I headed for the door and left the crime scene behind.

“No problem,” I heard Detective Wattson call as we disappeared from sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest today is sucking a lot but may this chapter make it better
> 
> -Digital


	22. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 2

**April 21**

**Prosecutor’s Office**

**3:25 PM**

**Chrysalis Starr**

It didn’t take us long to find Prosecutor Cruz and his little sister. They were standing further down the hallway where the crime took place. They were speaking in hushed tones, so I couldn’t hear a thing. Cotoli and I looked at each other for a moment before continuing forward slowly. We were noticed before we could overhear anything, not that we were intending on eavesdropping.

“What do you want?” came the harsh voice of Prosecutor Cruz. He hadn’t even bothered turning to face us, instead looking at his little sister instead.

“Um... We’re the defense team for this case,” I explained, trying to hide my nerves. It didn’t work, as when I got anxious, it was pretty clear.

I admit, I expected Prosecutor Cruz to say something snappy at me for my explanation, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned towards us. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses. “Good. We need your help,” he told us. He seemed much more relaxed than I had anticipated. I would have expected him to get angry with us for coming, as he definitely had a temper, and I doubt his grief was helping that much.

“You do?” Cotoli asked, a frown on his face. “What is it you need from us?”

“I want you to defend my younger cousin,” Prosecutor Cruz replied, crossing his arms. “She’s the suspect on this case, and I already know she didn’t do it... And I will find the culprit behind this...”

“Wait... Your cousin is the suspect?” I questioned in surprise. “I thought she was a visitor from Italy who doesn’t speak any English...”

“She is. She came here to begin with because she’s my cousin on my father’s side,” Prosecutor Cruz said. “She wouldn’t have come if she wasn’t going to visit my family for the first time. My father is Italian and is fluent in it. He taught it to me and Nikki, so we were supposed to help her around, but things didn’t work out like that... I need to know who did this to him.”

“If you speak Italian... Perhaps you can help us translate what she’s saying. We don’t know any Italian, which means we could use your help. We believe that she didn’t commit this crime. If you want our help to save her, we’ll easily offer it. Even if you’d rather we didn’t get involved, we want to save her. We can’t let an innocent person go to prison for the fault of the system,” I frowned.

“In that case, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to let you in on the details of the case,” Prosecutor Cruz mumbled. “You’re lucky this case is the way it is. If it was any different, I would not be so willing to tell you what I know.”

“I... I’m sorry about your father,” Cotoli told Prosecutor Cruz, looking up with an empathetic sadness in his eyes. “It must be hard to lose a parent this way...”

Even if Cotoli wasn’t saying anything about it, I knew he was thinking about his own mother. Natasha Morix had been one of the most important people in his life, and when she died... Well, everything was different afterwards. This was probably making him think back to when he had lost her. I reached out my hand slowly and took his before giving it a squeeze. He did the same, doing his best to keep it subtle.

“I... We can talk about that part later. For now, let’s focus on the case at hand,” Prosecutor Cruz said, looking away from us to concentrate on the toes of his shoes. Even if he was staying quiet, I knew he was trying to drown his grief out by working on the case. If he found the person who had killed his father, he couldn’t get distracted by his grief in the silent moments in between large discoveries. It was a dangerous way of dealing with his emotions, but I couldn’t really get snippy with him for it. After all, I had been the same way nearly my whole life, especially in situations where Pieter was concerned. If you do other things, it’s harder to think about what you’ve lost.

Cotoli hesitated, seeming to pick up on what I had, before nodding slowly. “I... I agree. Let’s focus on the situation at hand,” he agreed. He looked to Prosecutor Cruz, still frowning deeply. “Tell us everything you know about the current case.”

“The murder took place in the victim’s office... He was hit in the back of the head by a briefcase and died instantly due to the weight of it. The murder weapon was found in his room, and it had his blood on it, showing us surely that was the...” Prosecutor Cruz’s voice trailed off. “Anyways, there were two witnesses.”

“We heard your younger sister was one of them,” I told him, looking to the young girl at his side. They looked as similar as they did different. Their skin tones were similar, and they shared the same white hair, though where Prosecutor Cruz was tall and muscular, Ms. Cruz was short and petite. Her hair wasn’t only white, instead having streaks of black on either side of her face while the rest was tied back into twin ponytails. She was wearing a pink dress with a bow around the waist, different from the regular suit Prosecutor Cruz wore.

“She was,” Prosecutor Cruz replied after some brief hesitation. “I don’t see why I should tell you what she saw though when she can just tell you herself. How does that sound?”

Cotoli and I nodded our agreement. We turned our attention to Ms. Cruz next. She pushed some of her black hair behind her ear and looked down at the floor. “I... Um... I was asked to come by this morning when my father called me. He didn’t think he’d be able to help Lira out when he was hoping to,” Ms. Cruz began.

“Lira... That’s your cousin’s name,” I murmured.

“Yes, it is. Lira Giuseppe. Her mother was our father’s younger sister. She’s fallen on hard times recently and decided to come to visit us. I don’t know if she was planning on staying with us for a long time, but our father told her to come to the Prosecutor’s Office after she arrived. He reserved her a cab since none of us could pick her up from the airport. It’s good that she got here alright, but everything went downhill after that,” Prosecutor Cruz frowned. “That was when he...”

“He was attacked, but... We know Lira didn’t do it. Dad called me over a few hours ago to say that he wasn’t going to be able to leave home as soon as he’d hoped, and he needed me to pick up Lira. I agreed to it and dropped by to get her, and... Then we found the body... Well, I didn’t find it. Lira did,” Ms. Cruz told us.

“What happened?” Cotoli inquired, his voice firm.

“When I found her, there was a chair propped up against the door, and Lira was stuck inside. I could hear her shouting for help on the other side, so I moved the chair and got inside. She was crying and stammering in Italian. I tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work as well as I would have hoped. I called the police to get help, and when they arrived, she was arrested since she was in Dad’s office with his body when I found her,” Ms. Cruz explained.

“I see... Do you know of any evidence that could show she didn’t commit the crime? Anything you can tell us will be helpful, as we don’t really know much about this case,” I said.

“He was attacked by someone at the same height as him... There’s no way the person who hit him was as short as Lira. She’s not much taller than I am. I hadn’t met her before today, but I saw her in pictures, and she’s only got a few inches on me. I don’t think she would have been able to hit our father with his briefcase. I mean, the briefcase is rather large, but she still would have come up short and wound up clubbing his neck,” Ms. Cruz remarked.

“Hm... Yeah, that sounds like the kind of evidence we’d like to hear about,” Cotoli nodded. “That’s what Detective Wattson told us. She said the police made the arrest before she arrived after panicking over the fact that she couldn’t speak any English. It seems so clear now that she couldn’t have killed the victim. She’s far too small to hit him with that large height difference.”

“She would have had to stand on something to hit him right there, and that’s not possible given that the chair was used to lock her in the room. Plus, it would have been too heavy for her. Lira doesn’t exactly have much muscle on her, and while I am stronger than her, even I struggled to pull it out from under the door,” Ms. Cruz continued.

“It’s clear the culprit was not a prosecutor,” I murmured, tapping one finger against my chin. “If that was the case, if the culprit was a prosecutor, then we wouldn’t have the chair to contend with in the first place.”

“What makes you so sure?” Ms. Cruz questioned.

“Think about it like this. If you had to lock someone in a room, how would you do it? Chances are you would use a key. However, if the culprit didn’t have a key, they’d have to resort to other methods. A chair is nowhere near as effective as a lock for keeping someone in and others out. A chair can easily be removed by a passerby. Plus, it stands out like a sore thumb,” I began.

“If someone from the Prosecutor’s Office had committed the crime, they would either have a duplicate key or would know where to find one. That would make it much easier to hide Lira with minimal suspicion. However, if the culprit wasn’t from this place, then they wouldn’t know where to locate a spare a key and would have to use the chair instead,” Cotoli finished. “Good thinking, Chrysalis.”

“So... The culprit wasn’t a prosecutor or Lira. If that’s the case, who could have done it?” Ms. Cruz asked. “Was it someone else who came into the office for the day?”

I nodded. “That seems most likely. If someone came into the office for the day that wasn’t normally here, we can consider them a suspect. They wouldn’t have had the knowledge to keep people locked inside of the offices. Plus, it’s possible for them to be as tall as the victim, which would make the murder possible for them even without the stool,” I said.

“The culprit must have also been strong enough to lift the heavy chair from the office to take it out to the hallway... I think we’ve got a pretty good sense of what the culprit is like now that we’ve made our deductions,” Cotoli murmured. “It would have to be someone as tall as the victim with enough muscle to lift a heavy chair from the office. They also aren’t a prosecutor since they had to use a chair to lock Lira in the office.”

“There’s security footage in the lobby of the Prosecutor’s Office. We have a guard down there who has to approve people that come in. Even if somebody came by without running into the guard, there’s a camera down there that snaps a picture whenever somebody passes through,” Prosecutor Cruz told us. “I’ll have to do some digging to see if I can get my hands on it. If not, then I’ll figure something else out. However, we will find the monster that did this. I refuse to let them go free after what they’ve done.”

“Thank you for talking to us,” I smiled, bowing my head to the Cruz siblings. “I’m sorry for your loss. Trust me when I say that the culprit will not be let go after this. They don’t deserve to remain free for the crimes they’ve committed. We’ll figure out who did it and throw them in prison to rot.”

“We’ll make sure to help you out. We’ll do whatever we can. If you’ll work with us, then we’ll be able to find the culprit with no issues. We’ll need your assistant in court, but I believe that we can corner our suspect easily,” Cotoli said, determination in his voice.

“Thank you,” Ms. Cruz told us, rubbing at her eyes. “I... I’m still in shock over all this... I don’t know what anybody would have wanted from him enough to kill him. He was just a regular prosecutor, but apparently, it was enough for him to be put in danger... I doubt it was a normal circumstance. I guess it’s a gut instinct... I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s something going on behind the scenes here that we aren’t worried about.”

“I think you two should go and talk to the other witness. He seems to know more than he’s letting on. He’s a prosecutor around here, but I don’t think that he’s telling us everything. Even if he’s not the culprit, I believe he’s keeping something secret. I think it’s time for someone to try and push the truth out of him,” Prosecutor Cruz advised, still not giving into his own grief.

“What’s the name of this witness?” I asked. I wanted to tell him it was okay to be sad, to show how upset he was over his father’s death, but I was nervous to do so. I was sure that he already knew it. He was trying to bury his negative feelings, and I could relate, so I wasn’t going to press him yet. I wanted him to know he was safe to talk to us, but I couldn’t find the words, so I bit my tongue and remained focused on the case at hand.

“Elec Daegana. He’s an odd duck, to say the least. He doesn’t talk much. If you want to get something out of him, it’ll take a lot of work. We tried to talk to him after arriving, but he refused to say anything,” Prosecutor Cruz frowned. “Maybe you’ll have more luck.”

“Thank you for pointing us in the right direction,” Cotoli said. “Do you think we’d be able to meet at the detention center in an hour? We need to talk to your cousin and tell her that we’ll be defending her in court when the trial begins, but neither of us speak Italian.”

“We can do that,” Ms. Cruz nodded. “In the meantime, good luck with talking to Prosecutor Daegana. We’ll keep looking around.”

We waved to Prosecutor Cruz and his sister before walking away. We didn’t say anything until we were sure they were out of earshot.

“I wonder where this Elec Daegana is going to be,” I murmured. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him around here before...”

“I don’t recognize the name either... Maybe he’s new. Either way, we need to see what he was doing at the time of the crime...” Cotoli said with a frown.

“He’s bound to be around here somewhere. If he’s a witness to the crime at hand, the police wouldn’t let him wander far. It’s just a matter of figuring out where he is at this point,” I shrugged. “Granted, that’s much easier said than done given how large this building is, but I’m sure we’ll be able to find him. It might take a little bit, and it won’t give us much time to talk to him before we have to go and see Prosecutor Cruz, Ms. Cruz, and our client at the detention center.”

“Even if we don’t have much time, we need to hear what he has to say. For all we know, he’ll be a witness in the trial, and if we aren’t prepared to examine his testimony, we’ll be in a world of trouble,” Cotoli told me. “Are there any offices or floors you haven’t been to before? Maybe he’ll be there.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I never got the words out. I saw something dash around the nearby corner in my peripheral vision. Cotoli seemed to see it as well, as he turned to me with a tightly knit frown on his features. We shared a glance before nodding and starting to walk closer. We kept our footsteps as quiet as possible to keep from scaring our mysterious flash of gray.

We rounded the corner slowly, and we saw a man wearing a gray mask with a large green hat. Some curly brown hair stuck out from behind the mask. He had a long green overcoat and a gray undershirt. There was a purple rose tucked away in his coat pocket. White gloves were on his hands. He had green pants on with brown boots. A cane was in one hand.

“Who are you?” I asked immediately, looking the strange character up and down. I certainly would have remembered if I saw somebody wearing a mask, hat, and rose, so I figured it was safe to assume he was new or hid himself very well.

The man turned upon hearing us. I could hear the frown in his voice. “Elec Daegana,” the man replied. His voice sounded somewhat distorted, and I wondered if there was a voice changer within his mask. Either way, it was muffling his words greatly, and it was hard to make much of anything out behind the metal covering his whole face.

“You’re a witness for this case then,” Cotoli remarked. “Great. Now, if you don’t mind my asking, could you tell us what you saw at the time of the crime? Give as much detail as you can.”

“Tell me who you are first,” Prosecutor Daegana said sternly. “I refuse to give out such information to just anyone. It needs to stay on the down low for the sake of the upcoming trial. How are you involved in the case? You don’t work here at the Prosecutor’s Office.”

“My name is Cotoli Morix, and this is Chrysalis Starr, my younger sister. We’re the defense attorneys on this case. We’re trying to figure out who really killed the victim,” Cotoli explained with a solemn nod towards Prosecutor Daegana. “I hope that makes us worthy of hearing your story.”

Prosecutor Daegana looked us over for a moment. He didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity. When he finally did speak, his voice was soft. “I suppose so. Come on. Let’s find a safer place to talk than this,” he suggested.

“Safer place?” I echoed. I couldn’t blame him for thinking the Prosecutor’s Office was risky to talk in sometimes given the track record of corrupt prosecutors the place had. However, talking about a murder case that had taken place within the building seemed like it would have normally been fair game to a person with a regular thought process. Granted, I couldn’t really tell what people would normally think since my mind was always struggling to get away from the pull of my unnatural anxiety, and maybe people were just like this. I shrugged it off to the best of my ability, realizing it was a pointless thing to focus my attention on.

“If we’re out in the open like this, somebody could overhear us, and I don’t want that,” Prosecutor Daegana explained. He started walking away from us, using his cane to steady his movements. He was walking rather oddly despite the nearly perfect posture in the upper half of his body. I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but something about him was strange.

Cotoli seemed to think the same thing, as he looked my way, waiting for us to lock eyes and exchange thoughts. Since we were so close, we could communicate without talking rather easily. We frowned at each other, which showed me that he was just as suspicious of Prosecutor Daegana as I was.

Regardless, we found ourselves following him. Prosecutor Daegana was silent until we arrived outside a room with a locked door. I saw a nameplate to the right of the door that read ‘ELEC DAEGANA’. This must have been his office. I had passed through this area before and miraculously not noticed it. I ultimately assumed it was because I hadn’t been paying attention to the nameplates. Granted, I didn’t really need to, given how often I was in here visiting people of interest, and he had never been on the list of people I wanted to talk to.

Prosecutor Daegana pulled a key from one pocket and shoved it roughly into the keyhole of the doorknob. His arm movements were rather fluid, but his arms seemed a little too short for someone of his height. I frowned and looked him over once again. Something about him was certainly odd, even if I couldn’t really find a way to put my finger on it...

“Here we are,” Prosecutor Daegana announced once we were in his office fully. He moved to the chair behind his desk before sitting down. He seemed to flop onto it. Now I was sure that he was up to something, though I couldn’t figure out what. Maybe his movements were normally this awkward, but I didn’t know many people who moved like that. It was hard to explain, but he seemed jerky in an odd way...

Despite this, I found myself grabbing a chair from up against a nearby wall. I pushed it up in front of his desk. I saw what Ms. Cruz was talking about now when she said that the chairs were pretty heavy. I didn’t exactly have much muscle, and it took up quite a bit of energy to get the chair off the ground. All the chairs in the Prosecutor’s Office were the same as far as I was concerned, as this one matched the chair that had been outside the victim’s office perfectly in appearance. It would be a good idea to bring this up during the trial when proving Ms. Giuseppe’s innocence.

“Alright,” Cotoli said after he had pulled up his own chair. “What is it you want to tell us? You sure are being secretive about it. Was it really so important that you got us alone and away from the rest of the office to tell us this?”

I instantly knew what Cotoli was talking about. I moved my chair back a little bit from the desk. What if Prosecutor Daegana was planning something nasty? We would have to get out of here fast. I nodded his direction gently as thanks for the unspoken warning.

“What I saw... It’s not something I would want to freely explain out in the open. Let’s just say that I know something about the victim that nobody else does,” Prosecutor Daegana replied. “To say the least, I have a potential motive for someone who may be involved in this case.”

“Then out with it. Who would have a motive to kill him?” Cotoli asked sternly.

“It has to do with some research he’s been working on quietly for the past few months. I didn’t expect it to be relevant, but apparently it was... He’s been looking into the Emsthorpes,” Prosecutor Daegana told us.

My mind instantly went back to the trial the month before. Those Emsthorpes? Granted, those were the only ones, but... Really? Why would the victim want to get involved with them? They’re dangerous enough just to think about for a moment, but to look into them further... That was a risk nobody wanted to take. It would very easily get you on their hit lists, and you’d be dead before you could tell anybody a thing you found out about them.

“Why was he looking into them?” Cotoli questioned, seemingly thinking the same thing I had been.

“One of their minor members became active again recently, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t act out too much. He was trying to track him down and determine his exact location now that he’s moving about again... From what I heard, this member was not part of the main family, but rather, had connections to them through other means. He only mentioned his research in passing, and only ever to me. I don’t know anything about who it was specifically he suspected was the member of their group. He seemed pretty sure of his suspicions, though...” Prosecutor Daegana’s voice trailed off. He shook his head. “The point is, he was looking into the Emsthorpes, and it should be pretty obvious that would get him in trouble.”

“You think he was killed to silence him about a member of the crime ring,” I concluded. “That would make sense... What about his research? What was it on? Was it on his computer? Paper?”

“I... I don’t know,” Prosecutor Daegana finally said after a silence that stretched on for an eternity.

His hesitation told me everything I needed to know. I reached one hand up to my chest to rub at the Magatama hanging from my necklace. I didn’t channel spirits as much as the regular medium since I didn’t live in a designated community, but it still had its perks. The Magatama was easily my favorite of the positives involved with channeling. Nobody could lie to me so long as I had it on.

Five blood-red Locks snapped into place. Cotoli’s hand, which was in his pocket, was clamped around something. He had noticed the same hesitation behind his voice. We were being lied to.

“If you know something we don’t, you can tell us about it, you know,” Cotoli frowned.

“I don’t know anything,” Prosecutor Daegana lied. “Now, that’s all I had to say to you. It’s time for you to get going. I have to talk to some people involved in the case before the day is over.”

Prosecutor Daegana rose to his feet. He used the cane to ensure he was steady before starting towards the door. However, his foot hit something, and he tripped. Prosecutor Daegana went sprawling forwards, winding up flat on the ground. I looked down at what his foot had struck. It was a silvery safe. The top of it was covered in a thin sheet of dust, so it hadn’t been used in a while... However, on the other hand, the front was clear of dust, and it was far from the wall. It looked heavy, but someone had still pulled it away from the wall to put something inside. How strange...

I helped him back up despite the massive height difference between us. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” Prosecutor Daegana assured me. “I’ll be seeing you later.”

Cotoli and I walked out with those words. I shut the door behind us and started walking towards the elevator. We had to leave now if we were going to meet Prosecutor Cruz at the detention center.

“Something about him is bothering me,” Cotoli told me once we were safely in the privacy of the elevator.

“Same here,” I nodded, a frown on my face. “I can’t really put a finger on it, but something about him... It’s off.”

“I’m thinking about when he tripped. He tripped over a safe, but that’s not all. I want to know what was inside it, as it was pretty far away from the wall, as if it had been pulled out from behind something recently. The top of it was covered in dust, which tells me that it hadn’t been used in a while,” Cotoli said, tapping one finger against his chin. “There’s a bit more to it than that though... I’m thinking about his reaction to when he tripped. He didn’t seem bothered by it at all.”

“I think I see where you’re coming from here,” I murmured as we arrived on the bottom floor of the Prosecutor’s Office. “If he had really tripped on it, wouldn’t he have cried out in pain or showed some signs of being hurt? That safe was pretty sharp on the corners too. It bothers me that he didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly. He didn’t show any signs of having been hurt by the safe. Maybe he just has a high pain tolerance, but I somehow doubt that’s the case. I think something else is going on behind the scenes. I can’t say what it is quite yet, and we don’t really have time to theorize. The detention center awaits us,” Cotoli told me.

We started walking out to the car. I hopped in the passenger’s seat while he moved to sit behind the wheel. He started the car as I nodded. “Yeah... Something is going on with him,” I murmured.

“Let’s see if we can find out what’s going on with him. We’ll have to talk to him tomorrow in court... Unfortunately, we didn’t get to ask him about what he saw. He ushered us out as soon as we asked the wrong question, which means we’re basically going in blind. He may have a major clue as to who the culprit is,” Cotoli said as he pulled out of the parking spot. “It seems it was somebody involved with the Emsthorpes, at least according to Prosecutor Daegana.”

“That would fit in with the other things we know... For now, let’s focus on going to the detention center and hearing what the defendant has to say. Until after we’re done there, we should leave Prosecutor Daegana alone,” I suggested.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Cotoli agreed as we began our trek to the detention center. “Here’s to hoping she has something useful to tell us... Also, let’s pray that Ms. Cruz is a strong translator, as she’s our only hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to pretend I didn't almost forget about this chapter
> 
> -Digital


	23. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 3

**April 21**  

 **Detention Center**  

 **4:45 PM**  

 **Chrysalis Starr**  

When we finally arrived at the detention center, Prosecutor Cruz and Ms. Cruz weren’t there yet. I frowned to myself but walked into the visiting room regardless, fiddling nervously with my black gloves. It was a bad habit to get into, but I couldn’t help it. The Oracle project really made messing with my gloves a prominent issue. 

I grabbed a seat from up against the wall and pushed it to the area near the glass. Cotoli did the same before we both sat down. We didn’t say much of anything, instead just watching silently. I hoped we didn’t scare our client out of her mind with this. She was from another nation and was likely scared and alone, and Cotoli and I were friendly regularly, but we could be a bit serious overall. I could see pretty easily how it could frighten someone who wasn’t used to us, especially someone from another country. 

A girl walked into the room soon after we arrived. She was pale and lanky with long chestnut hair. Small teal sections of her hair framing her face were tied into braids. She wore a pastel green shirt underneath denim overalls with short sleeves and legs. She had tall pale blue socks on with white shoes. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles, and her eyes were a bright turquoise color. 

“Um... Hello,” I greeted simply, waving to her gently as soon as she sat down. I wasn’t sure if she could understand me, but I figured I would reach out to her and be kind. That transcends spoken words, you know? 

The girl on the other side, who I assumed was Ms. Lira Giuseppe, stared at me nervously. She responded to my wave with a wave of her own. That was some form of communication, but the fact remained that I still didn’t know any Italian, so we would be stuck just waving our arms around until our translators arrived. 

Ms. Giuseppe began to murmur something under her breath, toying around with her fingers as she stared down at the ground. She dared not to meet my eyes, and I couldn’t blame her. I wanted to try and comfort her, even if I didn’t know how to. The glass was making sure I couldn’t do anything to help her feel better, which was aggravating, but there wasn’t much we could do about it in this current situation.  

Cotoli looked to me, frowning himself, before focusing his attention back on Ms. Giuseppe. Unless we wanted to search up an Italian translator on the internet, we were stuck. Besides, those were said to be awful when trying to translate things, and I didn’t want to alienate her more by speaking in a way that was definitely insulting to her mother tongue. Instead, I just decided to stammer gibberish under my breath, my cheeks pink at the thought of messing up everything by looking up Italian on the internet. It was a ridiculous thought, but I needed something to keep me entertained while we waited for our pair of translators. 

“Sorry we’re late,” I heard a voice say from the door. I turned to see Prosecutor Cruz and Ms. Cruz walking into the visiting room. They both pulled up chairs before sitting down at my side. I could see Ms. Cruz’s eyes were red and puffy, and I knew for sure she had been crying. I reached out and touched her hand with my own before squeezing gently. Ms. Cruz returned the gesture, tears appearing in her eyes, and I made a mental note to give her a hug before we went our separate ways for the day. I would be seeing her again tomorrow, yes, but she seemed to need it now. 

“It’s alright. We just got here ourselves,” Cotoli replied. “This is our girl, huh?” 

Ms. Cruz focused on Ms. Giuseppe and began to speak in a language I definitely didn’t understand. I looked back and forth between the two, not knowing what they were saying specifically, but knowing what they were generally discussing. It had to be about the case.  

Ms. Cruz turned to us a few seconds later. “Alright. She’s going to start telling her story from the beginning, and I can translate it for you,” she said. “If you have any questions, Vito can ask them to keep the conversation a bit more open. Of course, we’ll translate everything back to English for your consumption afterwards.” 

“Thank you,” Cotoli smiled with a nod. “We’re ready whenever you guys are.” 

Ms. Cruz nodded and turned back to Ms. Giuseppe. She asked her something before our client began to speak once again. I couldn’t understand any of it, but I knew I would soon. This certainly was a unique situation we were in. I hadn’t been on a case before with a defendant who didn’t speak English, so this was a different experience, but I wasn’t entirely opposed to it. I was happy to go through it to help someone else, and I wondered if I’d find myself in this situation again. 

“Alright. I have the start of the story,” Ms. Cruz told us. “Lira was coming over from Italy to live with us for a little while since she wanted to get out of her house for a little while, but we figured it would be better for her to come here since most of her relatives have immigrated to the United States at some point. She flew over and arrived this morning, but something changed with our original plans. Our father was supposed to pick her up at the airport, but that didn’t wind up happening since his work kept him away. At the last minute, he called for a taxi to summon her to the Prosecutor’s Office.” 

“That sounds like what you told us back at the office,” Cotoli murmured. “The stories line up, which will definitely work in our favor in court.” 

“You won’t be fighting too hard against us. I’m the lead prosecutor, and I’m not going to let Lira get put in jail in place of the monster who killed him... They’ll pay for sure,” Prosecutor Cruz whispered. I was sure his eyes were narrowed from behind the wall that was his sunglasses. 

Ms. Cruz and Ms. Giuseppe continued talking while I looked to Prosecutor Cruz once more. “Do you know who you’ll be working with on the case? Have you heard?” I asked. 

“Not yet. Nobody has told me, but I figured I’d be told by the chief prosecutor as soon as he found out. For now, I’m not worrying about it. The case has to come first,” Prosecutor Cruz replied. “If they want to fight me and try to convict Lira of this crime, they’ll have to fight me for it, and I can promise you that I will win. I won’t let her be hurt because of this. She’s suffering enough as it is.” 

“Here’s the next part of the story. Lira arrived at the Prosecutor’s Office shortly before I did. I was supposed to help her settle in for a little while since she didn’t have much of anything to do today with my father still working. She started wandering around, looking around for an office which matched my father’s name. She had it written down on a small piece of paper, and she was checking if any nameplates outside the offices matched what she had on the paper,” Ms. Cruz continued. “She had been walking around for about twenty minutes before she finally found the correct office.” 

“I bet we’re going to get into what actually happened at the time of the murder now...” I murmured. “Poor thing. It must be awful to have to remember all this. Imagine arriving in a foreign country and being greeted by this as soon as you get off the plane.” 

“I don’t know who set her up for this, but I will make sure they pay,” Prosecutor Cruz murmured with a shake of his head. “They won’t get away on my watch.” 

“We won’t let them escape either. It’s our job to make sure your cousin is safe, and we’ll do that. I don’t know who could have killed your father yet, but they won’t get away with it. I mean it,” Cotoli said firmly, a frown tight on his features. 

“Okay, here’s the next bit. Lira began wandering around the office, like I said before, until she finally found the right one. She says she walked inside and found our father... He was already dead when she arrived. She let out a scream and panicked, so she started pounding on the door in an attempt to get someone’s attention so they’d let her out. She was in there for a while, though she never touched the crime scene or the body since she was too busy trying to be let out. Nobody came for about ten or fifteen minutes. She lost track of time and didn’t know the emergency number in America, so she couldn’t call anybody for help,” Ms. Cruz continued. 

“Did she have your phone number? What about the other people in your family?” Cotoli asked, placing one hand on his chin. 

“No, she didn’t. I was planning on exchanging numbers with her after she arrived, and we had a chance to talk. She only had my father’s phone number, and since he was dead already by that point, she couldn’t exactly call him for help... All she could really do was bang on the door, so that’s what she did,” Ms. Cruz answered. 

“Wow... That’s... I can’t believe she had to go through all that within her first hour of coming to America,” I frowned, cringing slightly.  

“I think after this is where things start to become a bit clearer,” Cotoli remarked as Ms. Cruz continued her conversation with Ms. Giuseppe. “This is where Ms. Cruz and Prosecutor Daegana come in, which might help clear up our vision of the case.” 

“I... I can’t believe this is all real. It sounds like something you’d hear about in a horror movie, but it’s very real,” I murmured, shaking my head. “I guess all we can do at this point is try and help her out of this situation. I don’t want her to wind up hurt, and if we want to keep her safe, going to court is our only option... I do wish this case hadn’t come on so fast though. The police investigation was minimal at best.” 

“They didn’t consider everything that pointed against Ms. Giuseppe. Sure, she was at the scene of the crime when the body was discovered by a third party, but there’s far too much evidence against her committing the crime. There was no motive, and she couldn’t have reached the victim’s head to hit him. I mean, Ms. Cruz couldn’t have done it either. As for Prosecutor Daegana... Well, I don’t know about him. He’s an odd case, but I’m sure we’ll learn more about him soon,” I said with a shrug. 

“If you ask me, there’s something else fishy going on behind the scenes of this case. Hopefully, we’ll be able to drag the killer out and make them confess before things go on for too much longer, but if we can’t find anybody, the least we can do is make sure she is freed. I mean, there’s enough evidence to free her at this point even without another killer to accuse. It would be nice to have someone like that, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not exactly necessary to save her,” Cotoli told me. 

“You had better help me catch the killer. Just because they can get away doesn’t mean we’ll let them,” Prosecutor Cruz frowned. “If you let them get away, I will never forgive you. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry, so perhaps it’s for the best if you stay on my good side.” Suddenly, I was aware of how tall Prosecutor Cruz was compared to the petite doll I was, and I decided staying on his good side was a fabulous idea. 

“Here’s the next part. I arrived at the scene of the crime about fifteen minutes after Lira had been locked inside. I saw a chair was being used to keep the door shut, and I figured it was a bit odd. I listened to see what was inside the room, and when I heard Lira’s voice, I knew letting her out was the best idea. She was crying a lot and pointing at my father, which is when I noticed he was gone... The commotion caused Prosecutor Daegana to come running while I was calling the police for help. He didn’t say much as he looked around, but he seemed to be searching for something,” Ms. Cruz went on. 

“Hm... It sounds like there’s a lot going on behind the scenes with Prosecutor Daegana. He’s a strange fellow, but I don’t really know how to get him to open up. It’ll probably take dragging him down to the witness stand and asking him to explain why he was there to get any significant answers,” Cotoli murmured. 

“If he really was looking for something at the scene of the crime, I wonder what he was searching for. It’s pretty easy to tell if anyone is trying to find something, and I bet Ms. Giuseppe was able to pick up on that even if they speak different languages. Did she happen to see anything suspicious involving Prosecutor Daegana? Did he mess with the crime scene at all?” I asked. 

Ms. Cruz turned to her cousin and asked her my question in Italian. Ms Giuseppe shook her head as she gave a reply. When we had first seen her, Ms. Giuseppe had come off as shy and guarded, not wanting to say anything to either one of us, but now that Ms. Cruz was here, she had opened right up. Thank goodness for her then. 

“He did search around the crime scene, but he didn’t take anything. It looked like he was trying to find something specific, but he couldn’t find it, whatever it was. He didn’t leave the scene of the crime until after the police had arrived, but if he had taken anything, it would have been hard to hide it. His clothing didn’t seem to have any good places to hide things,” Ms. Cruz replied. “Unless there’s some proof he took something and wanted to hide it...” 

I snapped as something sprung to mind. “That’s it! We have it! Think about what we saw in Prosecutor Daegana’s office when he invited us inside. There was one object in particular that stuck out like a sore thumb, and it could be a perfect place to hide something important. If he could get it out, he had a great hiding spot for things,” I grinned, my mouth rattling off at a million miles an hour. “Think about it!” 

“The safe in his office! It was sticking out from the wall, like someone had messed around with it lately. If Prosecutor Daegana could get whatever he was looking for out of the victim’s office and into his pocket, he could put it into the safe to keep it protected from any intruding eyes,” Cotoli realized. “Good idea. All we need to do is find a way to get him to open up the safe for us. I doubt we’d be able to open it on our own without either a password or a key, whatever is used to keep that thing shut.” 

“You’re probably right there... Prosecutor Cruz, do you think you’d be able to ask him about it? Would he have something in that safe we could use against him?” I asked, turning to the prosecutor nearby. 

“I don’t know if I’d be able to get him to do anything. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Prosecutor Daegana, it’s that he doesn’t like interacting with people of any kinds. He has his secrets, and if anyone tries to pry into them, he’s not exactly friendly with them from that point forwards. People have tried to get him to open up before, but it never seems to work. If you can find a way to get him to talk, go on and try it. You’d be head of just about everyone working with me in the Prosecutor’s Office,” Prosecutor Cruz replied with a frown and a shake of his head. 

“Hm... I do wonder what he could have possibly wanted to take from the scene of the crime. I mean, he wouldn’t just grab something for no reason. No matter what, he’s going to be accused of something for grabbing something from the scene of the crime... Though I do have a question regarding Prosecutor Daegana. There’s still something about him that bothers me,” I murmured, tapping my chin with one finger. 

“What question would that be?” Prosecutor Cruz asked, still frowning. 

“When we saw Prosecutor Daegana, he tripped over the safe in his office. He went tumbling to the ground, but he never seemed to be in pain. The safe’s edge wasn’t exactly dull. If I tripped on that, I would definitely be hurting,” I began. “And yet, he showed no signs of being hurt at all. I want to know how and why that is.” 

“You two went to see him?” Prosecutor Cruz questioned. “Start from the beginning. What did you hear from him when you went into his office?” 

Cotoli and I looked to each other, unsure of what we should tell him given how Prosecutor Daegana told us to keep the meeting quiet. I decided to let him take over after we shared a brief nod. “He wanted to tell us something in private. He explained that the victim had been researching something. As his children, do you have any ideas as to what he was investigating? Any hints at all will be immensely helpful,” Cotoli finally told them. 

“You two... People from your agency were involved in that case earlier on in the month in which a member of the Emsthorpe crime ring was shown to have killed someone. I’m sure you know about it because of that,” Prosecutor Cruz began. “Well... Our father was looking into the Emsthorpes. He didn’t want anyone else to be killed because of those guys... Cruel how irony works, eh...?” 

“He kept his research secret. He barely told a soul about it. Somebody from the Emsthrope group must have found out and decided to get rid of him because of it... I can’t imagine there being any other reason. He was so kind to all... Nobody else would have had a reason to want him dead. I can’t imagine him doing anything that would irritate anyone enough to push them to murder aside from that,” Ms. Cruz said softly. 

“In that case, it looks like we’ve found our motive... The real hard part now will be finding someone who can be realistically accused of involvement, and we’ve got our own safety to worry about as well. I mean, we could all be horribly injured, or worse, if we go too far on this case. The Emsthorpes clearly aren’t hesitant to silence witnesses,” Cotoli murmured, taking my hand and squeezing it protectively. 

“The only way Deirdre, Yuri, and Victoria were able to take care of it last time was because they weren’t aware of the danger they were in... Without that ignorance, we’ll know what we’re doing, sure, but we’ll also have a lot to consider before we make any moves. It’s a cruel balance, but it’s not as if we have any other options,” I sighed with a shake of my head. 

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way out of this. They won’t get away with it. No entity should be completely above the law, no matter how shadowy or corrupt they are. I won’t let that happen. If the killer really is somebody from that ring, I’ll take them down,” Prosecutor Cruz declared, his voice solemn and low. I have to admit, if I wasn’t working at his side in this case, I would have been absolutely terrified of him. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with him very often, as I didn’t think my poor little heart would be able to take much more of this panic after this case was over. 

“Well... I suppose we’ve found our most important hints for now,” Cotoli remarked. “Unless there’s anything else we need to check out at the last minute, I think it’s okay if we call it good now and head back home.” 

“I think we should stay here for a little while longer... After all, I still have a few other questions about Prosecutor Daegana. His behavior is still bothering me. I doubt we’ll be able to get anything else out of him until the trial tomorrow when we can really lay on the pressure, so I want to ask some other people who know him a few questions, such as Prosecutor Cruz,” I said. 

“In that case, go right ahead,” Cotoli nodded. “Do you suspect him of something based on what we’ve heard regarding his actions?” 

“Suspect? Not yet. I don’t think I have enough concrete proof to fully accuse him. Instead, I just want to gather as much information as possible about our peculiar witness before we take him to court,” I replied. “Prosecutor Cruz, have you ever seen Prosecutor Daegana behaving particularly oddly? Is there anything or anyone that makes him act strange or in a way you wouldn’t expect? Even the smallest details will make a world of difference here.” 

“Hm... Well, I guess he’s always acted sort of odd around Prosecutor Burke and her son. He seems to watch them a lot if they happen to be in the same area as him. It’s not like he goes out of his way to find them or anything, but if there’s a group meeting at the office, he’s probably going to be watching them. I don’t even know if he’s ever spoken to either one of them. He just stands at a healthy distance and stares at them. At least, I think he’s staring at them. It’s kind of hard to tell when he’s wearing that mask since it covers up his entire face,” Prosecutor Cruz explained. “He’s an odd duck for sure.” 

“Do you have any idea why he even wears that mask? I don’t know of anybody else in the office who wears something like that, but he’s never seen without it. I don’t understand what his reasoning could be. Is he scared of people seeing his face or something?” I asked. “If so, then why would he be so frightened?” 

“I don’t know. He’s just always worn it in and out of court. The chief prosecutor hasn’t bothered pestering him about it, but I still think it bothers a few people. I want to know what he really looks like behind the mask, but I somehow doubt I’ll be finding out anytime soon. Unless he randomly decides he wants to open up to everybody, then I’ll probably be waiting for quite some time, assuming I ever find out at all,” Prosecutor Cruz frowned. 

“I don’t know what Prosecutor Daegana is about, but it’s starting to bug me. Why would he want to hide his face like that? I mean, I’m sure he has his reasons, but it seems odd... Also, he has that safe. We’ll have to ask him about it. I somehow doubt it’s related to the reason he hides his face, but we’ll have to find out in court,” Cotoli said. 

“I really think something is wrong with his leg for him to not feel any pain upon running into the safe. You would expect his body to change at least slightly, like his posture altering a little to compensate for his sudden injury, but there was nothing like that as far as I could tell... I don’t know what’s going on with him, and I don’t think anybody does aside from the man himself, but... Somehow, and call me crazy for this all you want, I think it’ll be related to the case. As for how, I’m not entirely sure, but... We’ll find out one of these days,” I told the other people in the room. 

“I think we should go over what happened when Ms. Giuseppe found the body one more time,” Cotoli suggested, changing the subject. “She said that she walked into the victim’s office and saw he was dead before turning around and pounding on the door. That means the culprit locked her inside after she had arrived inside. I wonder what could have happened there... Ms. Cruz, could you ask her to repeat her testimony from that part of the story?” 

Ms. Cruz nodded before turning back to her cousin and speaking to her once again. I saw Ms. Giuseppe start playing around with her hair, twirling it over one finger as she answered Ms. Cruz’s question. She really did seem a lot more comfortable and loose when she was speaking her own language. When we had first seen her, she looked more like a caged animal than a girl about my age. I was glad to see she was feeling better, even if it was just a little bit. Any improvement was good in my eyes. 

“She didn’t see anybody she thought at the time was out of the ordinary. She passed a man wearing a suit on her way into the office when most others were inside their offices. She ignored it at the time and went into the office, which is when she found the body. She heard the door being shut from behind her, which is when she turned around and realized she was locked inside,” Ms. Cruz explained to us after she had finished her conversation with Ms. Giuseppe. “I’ll ask her about the chair next.” 

This conversation was a lot faster than I expected it to be. Ms. Cruz spoke to us a matter of seconds after starting the conversation. “The chair was in the hallway outside the office. Normally, it was pushed up against the wall inside, but it had been pulled outside for some unknown reason. Lira thought it was normal since she knew chairs were kept outside of offices for the sake of waiting areas. She passed by the chair before going inside, and since it was outside, it could be used pretty easily to locked her in while she was distracted,” Ms. Cruz went on. 

“Wow... I can’t believe someone decided to take advantage of her so soon after she arrived in America... It really is disgusting,” I murmured, shaking my head. “I really don’t understand the mindset of those who can actually bring themselves to kill another human being.” 

“If you ask me, this was all a coincidence for the killer. Lira happened to be there at the time, and since she was clearly confused and didn’t know what to do, the culprit took advantage of that and locked her in the room while she was distracted. Clearly, their plan worked, as she was arrested for the crime in their place,” Cotoli mumbled. 

“Well, to get back at them, it looks like we only have one choice. We have to make sure Ms. Giuseppe doesn’t get convicted for this crime since she didn’t do it. It’s clearly impossible for her to have killed the victim, and all we have to do is prove that in court. From there, maybe we’ll get some mercy from the judge, and if we can get some slack, then proving her innocence will be much easier.” I began to fiddle with my glove again out of habit. “I hope we can figure out who did this though...” 

“It’s going to be risky and difficult,” Cotoli pointed out. “We know how dangerous people can be when they get cornered, and if they think they’re at risk, then... Well, we’re going to have to hope nothing goes too wrong. I’m not too particularly enthused about the idea of the culprit getting away, but if they’re part of the Emsthorpe group, then we have our work cut out for us in saving her and staying alive ourselves. I don’t think we should get other people involved quite yet, but we should be careful.” 

“I think Nikki and I are going to head home... We should make our mother is okay. She’s probably feeling awful about all that happened,” Prosecutor Cruz said, speaking quietly for the first time in recent memory. Normally, I welcomed the idea of the peace, but with him, it just felt wrong. Knowing his personality, he was meant to be loud and reckless, not sad and somber...  

“Alright,” I nodded. “We’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Ms. Cruz bid Ms. Giuseppe farewell before walking out with her brother. Cotoli and I turned to our new client. We knew she wouldn’t understand us, but we waved anyways and headed out ourselves. We were silent all the way out to the car. 

“I’m already scared of what’s going to happen, if I’m being perfectly honest,” I admitted. “I wish I could make myself calm down, but I somehow doubt that’s going to be happening anytime soon.” 

“We’ll be fine. Don’t you worry,” Cotoli assured me, though I could tell he was just as scared as I was, if not more so. “Deep breaths, Chrysalis. No worries at all.” 

I snorted. “Funny that you’re telling me to do that when you’re the most anxious person on Earth,” I joked. “If anything, I’m the one who should be telling you to take deep breaths.” 

“Ironic or not, it’s good advice... And if you ask me, we’ll need it for the trial tomorrow,” Cotoli said, suddenly serious. 

I nodded slowly. “Yeah... Yeah, I know.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not really feeling it today so here's your update I'm going to go play Mario Kart
> 
> -Digital


	24. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 4

**April 22**  

 **Defendant Lobby No. 4**  

 **9:35 AM**  

 **Cotoli Morix**  

The next morning, there weren’t many people in the defendant lobby. Chrysalis and I were silent when we walked inside before sitting down on the couch. I didn’t see Ms. Giuseppe anywhere, and because she wasn’t here, all we could really do was wait. It wasn’t exactly productive, but we couldn’t do much aside from wait given the circumstances.  

We still didn’t know who the assisting prosecutor was going to be, or if there was even going to be one, as a matter of fact. We didn’t know entirely what was going on, which was mildly irritating to put it lightly. Chrysalis and I were silently thinking about this as we sat on the couch, and while we didn’t talk about it, I could tell that’s where her brain was going towards.  

“I want to know about who could have wanted to lock up Ms. Giuseppe at the time of the crime. I get the feeling they’re the killer, but... I’m a bit worried, to say the least. If there’s something else going on behind the scenes here, who knows what the truth is behind this case? I’m not entirely fond of the ideas I’ve been getting on the matter,” Chrysalis sighed, shaking her head.  

“I understand what you’re talking about. I’m concerned as well. The culprit could very easily be involved with the Emsthorpes, and if they are, then we need to finish this case as soon as possible. They’re incredibly dangerous, and we can’t let them be free. No person can be considered fully safe until we can lock them all up to pay for their crimes,” I told her with a frown. 

“And yet, we aren’t going to be finishing this case today. We don’t have enough information right now to even come close. I don’t think Prosecutor Cruz has anything else hiding up his sleeve since we’re trying to work together to find the person who killed his father. He has no reason to keep anything from us. He can’t solve this case on his own since he’s on the other side of the courtroom,” Chrysalis replied.  

“Even if we aren’t going to be finishing today, we rarely finish a case in one day anyways since we tend to get the most complex crimes to solve. I’m sure it’ll be fine. We don’t have a suspect yet, but the second we find one, this case will be good as done,” I assured her despite not entirely feeling that was true. I was worried out of my mind that something was going to go horribly wrong, even if there was no evidence right now that the case would slip down that path. 

“I know that’s true, but I can’t really help my worry. You know where I’m coming from here, I know you do, but... I don’t know what to think at this point. It’s a lot to take in, to say the least, and I’m concerned,” Chrysalis said, choosing her words slowly and carefully. 

“There’s something else that we’re going to struggle with today too... I mean, on top of everything else, we still can’t communicate directly with Ms. Giuseppe, and that’s not the best for us. Ms. Cruz is probably with her brother preparing to testify, and that means she won’t be able to help us until the trial actually begins. I was hoping to talk to her a little bit before court went into session, but I don’t think we’re going to have that option now,” I frowned. 

“Yeah. I mean, because she’s foreign, there’s a chance the police will try to put more pressure on her than they usually would in an attempt to prove that she did it. Corruption is everywhere, and that includes interrogation rooms. We already saw how little Detective Wattson had to do with this whole thing. She wasn’t even around to arrest the suspect. I doubt she had much to do with the interrogation, which means Ms. Giuseppe could be pressured into confessing,” Chrysalis pointed out. 

“We won’t let her confess though. If she tries to, we’ll have to cut her off and explain the situation to the court. If all goes well, we may be able to sway the judge in our direction from the start. I hope we have somebody judging this case with a strong sense of empathy, as that’ll make things much easier,” I said, nodding firmly. “If not, then we’ll just have to handle things ourselves.” 

“If all goes well, then we won’t have to deal with many issues. Prosecutor Cruz doesn’t want Ms. Giuseppe to be locked away for the crime, and we already have evidence to prove that she didn’t commit the crime using our logical deductions up to this point. Unless the assisting prosecutor is fighting us, this won’t be too bad,” Chrysalis told me, smiling slightly. She placed one hand on my upper arm. “We’ll be fine. Everything will be okay.” 

“You’re being uncharacteristically optimistic,” I smirked, nudging her with my elbow slightly. “What could have brought such a change of thought on? I’d like to hear your full explanation, if you don’t mind my asking.” 

“I’m just pointing out what we already spoke about yesterday. You know what I mean. Ms. Giuseppe is too short and couldn’t have locked herself in the office. On top of that, she had no motive and wouldn’t have had a reason to attack the man who was taking her in for quite some time so kindly,” Chrysalis reminded me, shaking her head. “If we can point that out, we can definitely make things easier for us. There was no reason for her to attack the victim, and we can prove it with a little bit of logic.” 

“Evidence may be everything in court, but the fact remains that logic is incredibly important to finding the truth behind any case. We can prove that she wouldn’t have had a reason to commit the crime, and that will be enough to sway things in our favor, especially if the prosecution is on our side in proving the defendant’s innocence,” I agreed. 

Chrysalis and I heard something coming from the entrance of the room, and we both looked up. Ms. Giuseppe walked in, Detective Wattson behind her. Detective Wattson pointed to us after whispering something to Ms. Giuseppe. Ms. Giuseppe walked over to us while Detective Wattson chose to remain by the door. 

I waved to our client, and Chrysalis followed suit, smiling slightly. I saw my sister pull her phone out in my peripheral vision. She began to type something out onto it, and when she was finished, she handed her phone to Ms. Giuseppe. 

“It’s a translator app. It’s not exactly optimal, and I’m sure the grammar is horrid given that it’s free, but it’s something, and that’s what we need right now. We can focus on the technical stuff later,” Chrysalis explained as Ms. Giuseppe read. 

Ms. Giuseppe seemed to catch onto what Chrysalis was trying to do and began to type on the phone next. Once she was finished, she read it over one more time before handing it back to Chrysalis, murmuring something in Italian under her breath. 

Chrysalis gave the phone a quick glance before turning to me. “I told her not to worry and that we would handle it, but she says she’s still worried. Is there anything you want to ask her before we go into the courtroom, Cotoli?” Chrysalis asked. 

“I want to ask her about her experience with the interrogation, actually. I don’t know if Prosecutor Cruz bothered to ask her about that yesterday in our haste to find facts out about the case, which means we should ask now. We never know if the police tried to bait her into giving a confession under false pretenses of a lighter sentence,” I said. 

Chrysalis nodded and began typing on her phone once more. I was silent as I watched her. Ms. Giuseppe stared at her feet and rocked back and forth to pass the time. Once Chrysalis was finished, she handed the phone back to Ms. Giuseppe for her to read it. 

Ms. Giuseppe typed out her response and gave it to Chrysalis, who read it and then turned to me. “She says that the police tried to get her to confess, but she didn’t because she thought it was a bad idea. Or at least, that’s what she thinks happened. She still doesn’t know any English, so she was going off what she assumed they were saying,” Chrysalis replied. 

“I can’t believe this... Well, I can believe it, as it’s pretty typical given the world we live in right now, but I wish it wasn’t true. There’s not much else we can do about it, unfortunately, but... It’s angering that this is what the system has come to. It’s so clear that she didn’t commit this crime, and if the police had just looked at the facts one more time before jumping to conclusions and arresting someone who couldn’t have done it, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” I sighed, shaking my head. 

“Well, there isn’t much of anything we can do about it now. As much as I hate to admit it, all we can do at the moment is try and clear her of the charges so her life can go back to normal. This is how we can help her out, even if it isn’t what we shouldn’t have to be doing,” Chrysalis told me. “We won’t let anything go wrong. That’s a promise.” 

Chrysalis began typing on her phone again before handing it to Ms. Giuseppe. She looked to me as the Italian girl replied. “I just told her that we have her back no matter what. I’m sure she already knows it, given that we’re helping her out in a foreign country where nobody wants to give her a second glance, but I still think it’s important to hear when you’re about to go on trial for murder,” Chrysalis explained. 

“Yeah. It’s always assuring to hear when you’re in that situation,” I nodded, remembering when Chrysalis had been arrested earlier this year. Technically, it hadn’t even been Chrysalis since it was one of her aliases, but she still had to deal with it. Between this situation and that one, I was not very fond of the greater police force. There weren’t many you could trust in a system that jailed the foreign, attempted to bait confessions from the innocent, and quietly denied rights to those who needed them most.  

“It’s almost time for us to head into the courtroom,” Chrysalis said, looking at the clock on her phone after Ms. Giuseppe handed it back. “She knew we were here for her, but she’s glad we mentioned it again.”  

Chrysalis typed out one last message before giving it to Ms. Giuseppe. In response, Ms. Giuseppe nodded, and a few seconds later, the two were hugging. If I had to guess, Chrysalis had been asking her if she wanted a hug given the situation. 

After the two pulled away from one another, Chrysalis dropped her phone back into her pocket. “Well, we should head in there. I don’t want to be too late,” Chrysalis told me, a frown on her features. “I mean, I don’t really want to do this, but we have to make sure Ms. Giuseppe gets out of this alright. It’s the least we can do for her, as it’s what we’d want if we were in a similar situation.” 

“I agree. Let’s get in there,” I agreed. I pointed over to the door and turned to Ms. Giuseppe. She looked up at me before nodding, seeming to understand that was where she was meant to go. She walked inside silently and without any issues. 

Chrysalis and I nodded to each other one last time as a brief show of confidence before walking into the courtroom ourselves. It was time to get down to business. 

 **April 22**  

 **Courtroom No. 4**  

 **10** **:** **00** **AM**  

 **Cotoli Morix**  

Once we arrived inside the courtroom, I looked around to see what we were dealing with here. The judge presiding over the case was one Ervan Frost, meaning we had someone with a strong sense of justice who would be inclined to follow our logic if he believed Ms. Giuseppe was innocent as well. That was a good sign for us, as he wasn’t the type to accept bribes and dance with the dark side of the law if it meant a benefit for him. 

As for the assisting prosecutor, it was someone else we knew well. I recognized Polly nearly instantly, and I have to admit, I was shocked. Of all the people I had thought might be on this case as a last-minute assistant, she didn’t even begin to come to mind. She wasn’t the type to randomly take on cases, as she had always been a planner, though that was probably putting it lightly given how obsessed she was with plotting out every little action. 

“Court is now in session for the trial of Lira Giuseppe,” Judge Frost declared after hitting his gavel against the podium before him. “Are the defense and prosecution ready?” 

“The defense is ready, Your Honor,” I announced, nodding firmly. We knew what we were doing, and we weren’t going to let the culprit get away with this. It wasn’t a great way to work through a betrayal in the agency, but it was something, and it would have to do for now. 

“The prosecution is also ready,” Prosecutor Cruz said next. He was still wearing his sunglasses to hide how his eyes, and it made it hard to tell how he was feeling. However, I didn’t need to see his eyes to be able to tell what was going through his head. He had lost a loved one, and his emotions were running high as a result. It was normal, and it happened when someone you loved died, though it became unbearable when a parent was killed. I knew the feeling all too well myself. 

“Prosecutor Cruz, please begin your opening statement now,” Judge Frost announced, turning his gaze towards the prosecution. I could tell by the confusion in his voice that he was thinking about the connection between the victim and leading prosecutor since they shared a surname. Anyone who didn’t know the full story thanks to the investigation was bound to be confused until they heard the explanation in the opening statement. 

“I hope Prosecutor Cruz will be able to take all this... It’s not easy to lose a parent like this, and to be forced into a trial so soon after... Even if he volunteered for it, I doubt that will make this any simpler to deal with for him,” Chrysalis murmured, staring across the courtroom at our rival of the day. “I feel absolutely terrible for him and his sister... They didn’t deserve this, and neither did their father.” 

I wasn’t given the chance to reply before Prosecutor Cruz began his opening statement. “The crime took place yesterday at the Prosecutor’s Office. The victim, one Luis Cruz, was found dead in his office with an injury on his head pointing to blunt force trauma. He had been hit in the head by his briefcase, which was heavy enough to inflict an instant killing wound. The defendant is Lira Giuseppe, the victim’s niece who is visiting America to stay with his family for the next few months. She speaks no English and knows only Italian.” 

“The victim’s surname is Cruz? That’s your last name as well,” Judge Frost realized, closing his eyes. “I suppose it makes sense as to why you would take this case on... Would you two happen to be related in any way?” 

“He was my father... As for the defendant, she’s my cousin,” Prosecutor Cruz replied. “I’ll do what it takes to find the killer of this case no matter what. If Chief Prosecutor Bespoke deemed it alright for me to take on this case, you bet I’m going to take it on. I refuse to let the culprit get away for what they’ve done.” 

“I see... Please continue with your opening statement,” Judge Frost nodded, closing his eyes in quiet consideration. “I apologize for interrupting you.” 

Prosecutor Cruz didn’t give a reply to that statement. He went on with the opening statement as if this distracting conversation had never taken place. “The briefcase that caused the fatal injury was recovered at the scene of the crime, and it had no fingerprints on its surface. There are no signs of the body having been moved, which means the crime took place in the office. The blood splatter indicates that well. The victim was supposedly discovered by the defendant, and she was found locked in the office.” 

“The office was locked by a chair being propped up against the door handle to prevent it from turning. It wasn’t until our first witness came to the crime scene and saw the chair against the door that the defendant was freed. She had been pounding on the door and crying for help until the witness arrived,” Polly went on, crossing her arms and tapping one finger against her upper arm.  

“The police thought it was proper to arrest the defendant since she was at the scene of the crime and found with the body. She didn’t say anything during the interrogation session since she speaks only Italian. The plan was for her to come to America, where we would teach her English. Her trip was planned at the last minute, meaning she didn’t have any time to fully learn English. Today was her first day after arriving to America, so we hadn’t been given the chance to teach her anything yet. I don’t know how they could have thought she committed the crime when she had never been to America and didn’t know how to survive without my father, but if that’s what they think, fine,” Prosecutor Cruz remarked with a shrug and a sigh.  

“He’s feeling frisky, openly saying he thinks the police messed up... I’m impressed,” Chrysalis said before her face fell. “Unfortunately, this is probably because he’s lost the ability to care due to the death of his father...”  

“I see... Thank you for explaining the case. Go on and call your first witness,” Judge Frost instructed, not giving a remark on the innocence of the defendant. I could tell he was still thinking about what Prosecutor Cruz had said on the matter, even if he wasn’t saying anything about it. “I take it you’ll be summoning the lead detective on this case first.” 

“The prosecution calls Vera Wattson to the witness stand,” Prosecutor Cruz announced, snapping and pointing to the witness stand. He didn’t reply to Judge Frost, and I got the feeling he was distracted by the case and not willing to slow down for anyone. I couldn’t particularly blame him, but it was going to make this case interesting unless we could convince him a given fact was important enough for discussion later on in the trial. 

Detective Wattson appeared at the witness stand, her hands shoved in her pockets. She didn’t seem to be having a great day, a frown being tightly knit on her features, and I already got the feeling I knew what she was thinking about. Because of the police force acting without official confirmation, she had to testify to the guilt of an obviously innocent defendant. I couldn’t blame her for being upset on the matter, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of the situation myself. 

“Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness,” Judge Frost instructed once Detective Wattson had gotten settled in. 

“My name is Vera Wattson. I’m a homicide detective,” Detective Wattson replied. 

“Not a single ‘love’ or ‘pet’. Yeah, she’s definitely distracted,” Chrysalis whispered after nudging me in the side. “I guess nobody in this courtroom really wants to be here today. Thanks, police station, for making us do this when we really shouldn’t have had to. Do your research and stop hating foreign people, will you?” 

“Ms. Giuseppe isn’t even a person of color, which means she got stereotyped less than she would have been otherwise... I suppose that makes things a bit easier for us since we don’t have to overcome stern hate of people of other races, but... It’s still aggravating to deal with,” I agreed with a nod.  

I couldn’t believe I had gone about my whole life believing the police force was perfect up until I became a lawyer and learned of the endless corruption in the system. I was thankful for the Oracle project since it showed me such a fact, but I wished it wasn’t so harmful to everyone involved. I wanted us to take care of all this corruption, but that was much easier said than done, and we had other things to think about at the moment. 

“Please begin your testimony about the crime, detective,” Judge Frost demanded, cutting off my conversation with Chrysalis about the horrible system we had to deal with. I had to forcefully drag my thoughts away from such a subject to keep from thinking about it in too much depth when we had other things to focus on. 

“Alright,” Detective Wattson nodded.  

 **~ Witness Testimony ~**  

 **~ The Facts of the Case ~**  

 _-“The crime was at the Prosecutor’s Office yesterday morning.”_  

 _-“The defendant is the victim’s niece and a visitor from Italy.”_  

 _-“She was visiting the office in hopes of meeting with her uncle to go home with him at the end of the day.”_  

 _-“However, things went south, and she was later discovered in the victim’s office with his body.”_  

 _-“He had been hit in the head by his briefcase, causing an instant death due to its weight.”_  

 _-“It wasn’t until the victim’s daughter found the scene that he was known to have been killed.”_  

 _-“The defendant is a suspect since, according to the police, she hit him in the head with the briefcase.”_  

“So, the defendant seemed to have hit the victim on the head with the briefcase, which killed him... I see. No fingerprints were lifted from it, so how can that be explained?” Judge Frost asked. 

“The police claim she had gloves but disposed of them somehow. As for actual proof of this, there isn’t anything that we’ve found up to this point. It will likely be some time before we find something, though I’m not entirely sure if such evidence exists,” Detective Wattson replied. “This is a teenaged girl who doesn’t know the workings of this country and its system. You expect her to be able to dispose of gloves used in a murder without leaving a trace behind? This crime couldn’t have been premeditated by the defendant since she didn’t know the office at all.” 

“It sounds to me like there are many holes in the story the police have concocted... Though there’s not much we can do about it at the moment. For now, please repeat your testimony. Defense, cross-examine the testimony at this time,” Judge Frost declared. 

“We’ll get right on it,” I nodded.  

 **~** **Cross-Examination** **~**  

 **~ The Facts of the Case ~**  

 _-“The crime was at the Prosecutor’s Office yesterday morning.”_  

 _-“The defendant is the victim’s niece and a visitor from Italy.”_  

 _-“She was visiting the office in hopes of meeting with her uncle to go home with him at the end of the day.”_  

 _-“However, things went south, and she was later discovered in the victim’s office with his body.”_  

 _-“He had been hit in the head by his briefcase, causing an instant death due to its weight.”_  

 _-“It wasn’t until the victim’s daughter found the scene that he was known to have been killed.”_  

 _-“The defendant is a suspect since, according to the police, she hit him in the head with the briefcase.”_  

“Objection!” 

“I don’t think the defendant could have hit the victim on the head at all. If you look at the autopsy report, it explains that the injury likely came from a person the same height as the victim. If it had been swung from the same height, it could have hit the top of his head or sideways along his head. If the injury had come from below, it wouldn’t have made the type of injury shown on the body. In other words, the defendant couldn’t have done such a thing due to the drastic height difference in between them,” I announced. 

“Would there have been a way for the defendant to have gotten up to the same height as the victim to hit him in the head?” Judge Frost asked, frowning to himself.  

“I don’t believe so. The chair in the victim’s office must have been outside if it was used to lock her inside. If she had used it in the crime, which wouldn’t have been possible, traces of blood would have been found on its surface, and to my knowledge, there was nothing like that found on the chair. Nothing would have gotten the defendant up to the victim’s height except for the chair, and she couldn’t have used it to commit the crime since the chair was busy with other engagements at the same time, such as locking her in the room at the time she was suspected to have killed the victim,” I replied. 

“Hm... She could have stood on the desk, yes?” Judge Frost pointed out. “Do you know for sure the desk wasn’t used by the culprit to commit the crime?” 

“That would have gotten her above the victim’s head, which would have made that injury on his head a lot harder to create. It is technically possible, but the chances of it are incredibly slim. On top of that, we have the matter of the gloves, which imply that she couldn’t have committed the crime. The desk is irrelevant if there’s no way for her to have picked up the briefcase without tracking prints,” I went on. 

“That’s right. Since no fingerprints were lifted, the police can’t use that against her. It would have been nearly impossible for her to properly dispose of the gloves used to keep herself from being tracked to the scene of the crime since she had never been to the building and didn’t know anything about its functions,” Chrysalis murmured, nodding to herself. “It’s not possible for her to have committed the crime between the gloves and the chair being needed but ultimately unused.” 

“What about if the culprit wiped their prints off rather than using gloves?” Polly pointed out. Despite her poking a hole in our logic, I could tell she was trying to make our case watertight as opposed to trying to antagonize us. I knew how she worked, and it was best if we closed these holes now rather than leaving them until later. 

“If she had done such a thing, then blood would have gotten on her clothing, and no blood was found on her clothes as far as I am aware. It’s not possible for that to be the case since the police found her without any blood on her person. In other words, that wouldn’t work because of the traces that would have been left behind,” Chrysalis replied. “Are there any other things you wish to bring up before we move on? If you ask me, it’s almost time for us to call our first witness and continue with the trial.” 

Polly looked to Prosecutor Cruz before crossing her arms. “Hm... How about this one? Who do you think the culprit is if it wasn’t the defendant? Do you have any ideas or details regarding our killer?” she questioned. 

“For one, the killer isn’t a prosecutor. A prosecutor working at the office would know how to lock a door, as they’d be able to figure out where a spare key would be located, and yet, the chair was still needed to keep the door locked. If the culprit was a prosecutor, they wouldn’t have needed to use such a method to lock Ms. Giuseppe inside. In other words, the culprit was an outsider who snuck into the office with the intents of doing something to the victim, and that something just so happened to be murder we are discussing now,” I announced, a smirk on my face.  

“So, we’re looking for a culprit who doesn’t work at the Prosecutor’s Office and is about the same height as the victim. I still don’t know who would have a motive to kill him, as he was liked by nearly everyone, but I suppose there was someone out there who had reason to want him dead. We should stay focused on the other criteria and narrow our search when we get closer to finding a suspect,” Polly suggested. “How does that sound?” 

I nodded before turning to Chrysalis. “Let’s keep the other thing a secret for now. We can talk about that more when we get closer, as if we bring it up now, it would just put us in danger,” I whispered to her. She gave me a thumbs-up to show she had heard me and understood completely. 

“I don’t think talking about this theoretical killer with so few details at this point will do us much good. It’s a good time for us to move on and try to figure out more about the person who likely committed this crime. With that being said, let’s continue with the trial and call the next witness set to testify. They can help us get closer to finding the culprit,” Judge Frost declared. “Prosecution, please ask your second witness to approach the stand now.” 

“The prosecution calls Nikki Cruz to the witness stand,” Prosecutor Cruz declared, pointing to the stand as Detective Wattson stepped down. “Go on up there.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know she speaks exactly 0 English but I love Lira So Fr*cking Much
> 
> -Digital


	25. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 5

**April 22**  

 **Courtroom** **No. 4**  

 **10** **:** **4** **5 AM**  

 **Cotoli Morix**  

Ms. Cruz made her way up to the witness stand at the instruction of her brother. I frowned upon realizing that her eyes were red and puffy. It was clear to me that she had been crying, and I wanted to do whatever I had to in order to comfort her. The day before, she had seemed so put-together, as if nothing had gone wrong in the first place, but I suspected she was using the investigation as a distraction to keep from completely breaking down. Her eyes were droopy, and I could tell she hadn’t slept much either. I felt a pang of sadness in my heart for her, and I wished there was something I could do. 

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Judge Frost announced, looking down towards Ms. Cruz. 

“My name? I’m Nikki Cruz... As for occupation, I’m a high school student, but I do a lot of performing in a band with a few of my friends outside of school,” Ms. Cruz replied, twiddling with a piece of her hair sitting near her face.  

“Your surname is Cruz? You must be related to the victim and Prosecutor Cruz... I’m sorry for your loss,” Judge Frost frowned, closing his eyes to think for a moment. 

Ms. Cruz shook her head. “It... It’s okay. There’s nothing you could have done to change it. I just want to find the person who killed him. I don’t want to let them go free,” she murmured, looking down at her feet. “The sooner we can figure out who did it, the better... They deserve to rot for all they’ve done.” 

“I never would have expected her to get so intense, but I can’t say I blame her for feeling this way... I would be upset too if something like that happened,” Chrysalis said, leaning in close to me to talk briefly. “Well... I guess it already did happen, back when we lost your mother... Even if we shared no common blood, I still wish things could have gone differently. I probably wasn’t too different from Ms. Cruz when I was in the same state of grief all those years ago... I don’t have much room to talk, huh?” 

“It’s okay to be bothered by something like this. Anyone would be upset if they lost a family member to murder. That’s natural. Nobody can be blamed for their own grief when their world comes crashing down,” I murmured, not taking my eyes off Ms. Cruz. My heart ached seeing her in this state, and while I knew we had to stay on track and take care of business, I made a mental note to do my best to soothe her once the trial had ended for the day. 

Ms. Cruz noticed we were staring when she looked up from the ground, and she met my eyes for a moment before returning her gaze to the floor. There was so much sadness in her gaze. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her for much longer. I would begin crying myself if I kept the eye contact up. 

“Please begin your testimony, Ms. Cruz,” Judge Frost instructed, not seeming to pick up on how upset she was. If he did notice it, he was choosing not to comment on it. 

“Okay,” Ms. Cruz nodded, looking up. Her eyes were dazed and lacked a sense of life. “I’ll get on it.” 

 **~ Witness Testimony ~**  

 **~ Finding Lira ~**  

 _-“I was at the scene of the crime to meet with my father. My cousin was coming into town.”_  

 _-“He wasn’t able to meet with her as he had originally hoped to, so I was supposed to help her back -home.”_  

 _-“When I got there, I didn’t see her or my father anywhere, so I started searching for them.”_  

 _-“I stumbled upon my father’s office, and when I got there, I could hear yelling and pounding from the inside.”_  

 _-“A chair was pressed up against the doorknob to keep it from turning, locking Lira inside.”_  

 _-“I pulled the chair away, and Lira left the office, crying and pointing behind the desk...”_  

 _-“_ _That was when I saw my father’s body and the briefcase used to kill him nearby...”_  

 _-“I don’t think Lira did it though... She wouldn’t have killed him! He was her uncle!”_  

“The defendant was at the scene of the crime when the body was discovered? That seems rather suspicious, I must admit,” Judge Frost murmured, closing his eyes.  

“The defense maintains its claim that the defendant is innocent,” I declared with a frown. “We’re ready to cross-examine the witness’ testimony.” 

“You’re going to cross-examine it even though her testimony goes along perfectly with everything you’ve claimed up to this point regarding the defendant’s innocence?” Polly asked, crossing her arms.  

“We will, yes,” I confirmed. “Whether we agree with it or not, it’s important that we talk to her. Besides, this is a chance to gain much important information regarding the case and what happened at the time of the crime.” 

“If you’re prepared, go on and begin your cross-examination,” Judge Frost nodded. 

“We’ll get right to it,” I smirked. I already knew where to go with this, and it was going to help my case quite a bit. 

 **~** **Cross-Examination** **~**  

 **~ Finding Lira ~**  

 _-“I was at the scene of the crime to meet with my father. My cousin was coming into town.”_  

 _-“He wasn’t able to meet with her as he had originally hoped to, so I was supposed to help her back -home.”_  

 _-“When I got there, I didn’t see her or my father anywhere, so I started searching for them.”_  

 _-“I stumbled upon my father’s office, and when I got there, I could hear yelling and pounding from the inside.”_  

 _-“A chair was pressed up against the doorknob to keep it from turning, locking Lira inside.”_  

 _-“I pulled the chair away, and Lira left the office, crying and pointing behind the desk...”_  

 _-“_ _That was when I saw my father’s body and the briefcase used to kill him nearby...”_  

 _-“I don’t think Lira did it though... She wouldn’t have killed him! He was her uncle!”_  

“Objection!” 

“You’re really objecting to something like that? This testimony is helping your case already as it is!” Polly exclaimed with an intense frown. 

“I’m objecting to a single word in this testimony... Wouldn’t. She wouldn’t have killed him. The proper word is couldn’t. She couldn’t have killed him, and I have proof,” I announced. “It’s all down to the way the scene of the crime was set up.” 

“Then go on and explain,” Polly said. With how much she was talking, it would be easy to assume she was the leading prosecutor and not Prosecutor Cruz. I couldn’t say I was surprised, as she was usually a dominating prosecutor, even when she wasn’t the lead on the case. 

“The chair is the important part here. I believe we mentioned this before, but the chair unwinds every piece of evidence that could possibly have the defendant under suspicion. She was too short to deal the killing blow to the victim, and she would have needed a height boost to kill him. However, the only object to offer such a boost would be the chair, which had to be outside to lock the defendant inside. It would be physically impossible for the chair to have been in two places at once,” I explained. 

“Between the chair and the lack of a motive, the arrest of the defendant was unlawful and unfair on many accounts. She couldn’t have committed this crime, and we have shown such multiple times through both logic and physical evidence. The defense maintains its statement of a third party being at the crime scene to kill the victim,” Chrysalis announced, her voice as serious as could be. “We would like to request a further investigation period to figure out who could have committed the crime so we can bring them to justice.” 

“Hm... What do you think, Prosecutor Cruz? Prosecutor Burke? Would you agree with this sentiment?” Judge Frost asked, looking across the courtroom to where the prosecution was situated. 

“Yes, we do,” Prosecutor Cruz cut in before Polly had the chance to say anything. Normally, I would have expected her to look upset that she was interrupted, but she agreed with everything Chrysalis had said as far as I was aware, so she didn’t have any reason to speak up with an objection this time. 

“However, I think we should try and make a few more deductions about our potential killer before we end things for the day. We have very little information right now and trying to find the culprit with what little we know will be difficult. It’s time for us to take a step back and look at what we know as a whole,” Polly said. “That being said, where do you think we should start our search?” 

“We already know that the culprit isn’t a prosecutor working at the office. They would have had a way of locking the door without using the chair if that was the case. We're going to have to check the security footage, or whatever it is the Prosecutor’s Office has to keep people from just waltzing in, to see who got in. Everybody who isn’t a prosecutor will be a suspect. From there, we can narrow things down based on the other information that we have,” I began. 

“Hm... I wonder who could have committed this crime. Seriously. It’s going to bother me until we can figure out who did it,” Chrysalis murmured, shaking her head. “Even knowing that a bunch of people are suspects really isn’t helping much... Has anyone here heard about any specific person entering on the day of the murder who might be considered suspicious? Anybody will do.” 

“I didn’t get the chance to do much snooping, but apparently, a defense attorney came into the office the day of the murder. I really don’t understand why an attorney would want to come around on such short notice. Don’t quote me on that though. I really didn’t have much time to investigate, so that might be inaccurate. It’s just a possibility,” Polly announced. 

“I see... Do you know anything about this defense attorney? How did you even find out that they entered the office on the day of the murder?” I asked, a frown on my face. How come I didn’t hear anything about this? 

“I didn’t know about it until just before I came here myself. I was at the office pulling together some last-minute pieces of evidence from the case... Well, I say evidence, I mean paperwork. Because this was so short-notice, I didn’t have any time to figure out how to take care of all the paperwork ahead of time. I was in my segment of the office when I got a knock on my door from Prosecutor Yin. He had been out of the office for most of the day, but she said she passed a man with a defense attorney’s badge on the way out. She didn’t get the chance to tell anybody about it since she took the rest of the day off and only came in for a few hours in the morning, but it happened, and it didn’t come out until now,” Polly explained. 

“This Prosecutor Yin... I think I know who she’s talking about here, and if I’m right, it means we’re going to get to talk to Sora’s adopted parents,” Chrysalis murmured to me.  

Tora Yin and Jay Yang adopted Sora the year that we met her, long before the Oracle project ever came into existence. Tora is a prosecutor while Jay is an attorney. They were nearly killed in a case following the trial revolving around the death of Sora’s birth mother. We didn’t come to know we were related to her until after that case. Sora, now without any parental figures, was taken in by Tora and Jay for her last year of high school before she went off to college. She paid for their medical bills after they were attacked, and the three have remained close since.  

Well, I call them her adopted parents, but I don’t know if that’s really the right way to phrase it. Their relationship as a whole unit was similar to a family dynamic, but it wasn’t like there was a large enough age gap between them for Sora to actually be their child. The whole thing is rather complicated, but as long as the three of them are happy, I suppose any other thoughts on the matter aren’t very important in the long run. 

“Damn... That’s inconvenient for us. I mean, I’m glad we heard about it, but I wish the information had gotten to us sooner. It would have made it a lot easier to talk to her in the courtroom, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I mean, it’s not like any of us know where she is, meaning we can either go on a wild goose chase or just let it sit for a while longer,” Chrysalis frowned, shaking her head. 

“We’ll just have to wait then. Until tomorrow, all we can do is hope that we get any ideas about who the killer is over the investigation,” Prosecutor Cruz grumbled, clearly unhappy. “Did you hear any details about this sudden and weird defense attorney?” 

“He seemed to be on the older side. I don’t know much else aside from that. Prosecutor Yin didn’t recognize him at the very least, which means it’s not somebody who normally goes around the Prosecutor’s Office. If it was someone who went there often, she would have known his face. Nothing ever escapes her since she’s so organized and concise,” Polly explained. 

“In other words, it sounds like we might have a potential suspect for who the culprit could be...” I murmured, placing one hand on my chin to think. “Did you happen to ask about how tall this defense attorney happened to be?” 

“I didn’t ask about it, but I did hear about it from her. She seemed to assume I needed a description, so she gave me all that she knew about. She said he was older and taller than her, though that’s not much of an accomplishment given that Prosecutor Yin isn’t the tallest of people anyways,” Polly replied.  

“Hm... Yeah, that sounds about right. We would need somebody about the same height as the victim in order for the wound named in the autopsy to have been made,” I said. “It would make sense. Plus, he’s not around the Prosecutor’s Office much, and he doesn’t work there since he’s a defense attorney, which means that he’s a potential killer for this case. He wouldn’t know where to find a key to lock the defendant in the office, meaning a chair was his best bet.” 

“We’ll need to speak with Prosecutor Yin to get the full story behind this mysterious defense attorney as soon as possible. Once the investigation begins, it’s important that we track her down and hear what she saw,” Chrysalis whispered, nudging me gently.  

I nodded my agreement. “Yes, you’re right... That’s going to need to be our first priority as soon as the investigation starts. She’ll probably be busy talking to the prosecution soon afterwards... I can’t help but wonder where she could be right now. If she saw something, whether she was aware it was related to the crime or not, she’s probably going to be at the Prosecutor’s Office,” I murmured. 

“We’ll figure out where she is no matter what,” Chrysalis assured me. “Until then, I think we should bring up the matter of Prosecutor Daegana. I get the feeling there’s much more to him than meets the eye, and even if we won’t be able to hear his testimony, we can still bring up how generally peculiar he is.” 

“That’s a good idea,” I agreed. “The defense would like to call attention to another witness who was at the crime around the time of the murder. He hasn’t yet appeared to testify for us, and even if we can’t call him today, we would still like to talk about him. We believe it to be incredibly important that he be interrogated, as he seems to know something relating to the case that he doesn’t want to share for whatever reason.” 

“You talked to him some yesterday, did you not? What did you find out?” Prosecutor Cruz asked, frowning. “I want to hear all the details.” 

“I’d be glad to share,” I nodded. “Let’s start from the top. He invited us into his office when we decided to ask him about what he saw at the time. He said he wanted to keep our chat on the quiet side, meaning he couldn’t tell us everything, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep a few things secret for his sake. However, there are a few things that I’ll gladly tell you about, such as what he was doing at the time of the crime.” 

“What was he doing at the time, if you don’t mind my asking?” Polly said, crossing her arms. “As you’re surely aware, I didn’t have any time to ask him about what he saw at the time.” 

“He heard the commotion caused by Ms. Cruz discovering the body, and he came running. After arriving, he began looking around for something, but as far as I’m aware...” I looked to Chrysalis, and she nodded her quiet approval, clearly already understanding my choice. “He didn’t find anything of particular note at the crime scene. If he did take something, then we don’t know what it is, and he hid it rather well.” 

“His clothing would have been hard to hide anything with. It was on the tighter side, so it would have been difficult for him to take something large, assuming he even took something,” Chrysalis cut in, crossing her arms. 

“Do you think he would have been able to hide something once he got to his office? Was there a good place for him to hide something?” Polly asked. 

I nodded. “It was his office, so he would know all the ins and outs of where to hide things, and that would make it much easier to keep something hidden if that’s what he wanted. The real problem would be getting it to his office, but if he could pull that off, then he would be in the clear,” I explained to her. 

“In other words, I think it would be a solid idea to look over his office one final time to ensure he isn’t hiding anything inside. I don’t know where he would hide something to get it there, but if it made its way into his office, that’s what matters,” Polly announced.  

“I agree. I believe we should try and see what he’s been hiding. If there’s nothing else for us to take care of today, we might be almost ready to finish the trial for the day. We need to speak with Prosecutor Yin as soon as possible, and Prosecutor Daegana is also important to see. It’s important that we investigate them both and determine what they know,” I said next. “Is there anybody else we should be talking to about the time of the crime? Was anyone else suspicious or out of the ordinary there at the time of the crime?” 

“As far as I’m aware, I don’t think so. No other prosecutors said anything about peculiar characters, and that tells me that not many others that shouldn’t have been there were at the scene of the crime,” Prosecutor Cruz spoke up. “Those two managed to slip through the cracks, but I don’t think any others did. They were either deliberately trying to hide or just so happened to be gone at the time. It could have been possible for somebody else to slip by and hide, but I somehow doubt that will fly during this next day of investigation. I won’t let anybody get away if they have information about who the killer is.” 

“I see... In that case, I suppose we should get ready to end the trial for the day. There’s not much else for us to do today,” Judge Frost frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to do that would drag out the trial at all.” 

“There’s not much for us to do. We shouldn’t talk to Prosecutor Daegana until we start the trial back up tomorrow. I don’t want to split up his testimony over the span of two days,” I said. Nobody seemed to be able to tell I had an ulterior motive for hiding it. I wanted to keep Prosecutor Daegana from getting away, and we didn’t know enough to pin him down conclusively as far as I could tell, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that until we could get the truth out of him. 

“Well, are there any objections to ending the trial for the day and picking up this trial tomorrow? We can see about finding the culprit after we have another brief segment of investigation,” Judge Frost announced, reaching for his gavel to lift it up ever so slightly. 

“The prosecution has no objections,” Prosecutor Cruz declared, cutting off Polly from saying anything. Judging by how she didn’t seem openly frustrated with the sudden interruption, she had been planning on saying something similar. 

“The defense has no objections either,” I nodded, letting my hands rest on the defense bench before me.  

“In that case, both sides will investigate the crime as much as possible over the course of the next day. It’s important that we discover the truth behind Prosecutor Daegana and if he took something from the scene of the crime. You’ll also be asking Prosecutor Yin about what she saw regarding the strange defense attorney. Any other evidence that comes to light will be brought back tomorrow for further examination. Do you all understand?” Judge Frost asked. 

I nodded in sync with Prosecutor Cruz. Neither one of us said anything, instead choosing to pack up our paperwork and evidence to prepare for the investigation ahead. It wasn’t going to be easy. 

“In that case, court is adjourned!” Judge Frost declared, slamming his gavel down on the podium before him to bring the day’s proceedings to a close. 

 **April 22**  

 **Defendant Lobby** **No. 4**  

 **1** **2** **:** **00** **AM**  

 **Cotoli Morix**  

“And that’s the end of that,” Chrysalis murmured, heading for the bench once we had finished the trial for the day. “I don’t know what we’re going to be starting with. Maybe we could call Sora and see if she could contact Prosecutor Yin for us. After all, she’s the one to ask about when it comes to Prosecutor Yin. She’s one of the only people who can get her to say anything since... Well, you know how Prosecutor Yin gets. She’s as stubborn as can be.” 

“Yeah... I know her attitude all too well. We’ll just have to put up with it, and that’s okay. We’ll have to find her and deal with her, and that’s okay,” I shrugged. “I must say, I am a bit surprised about the outcome of this trial. We have a clue, but that’s much less than what we’re used to seeing, you know?” 

“Yeah, I get it. We know who to ask about to talk to about the culprit, but at the same time, we don’t know much about who it is. We have a physical description and a potential motive, but we don’t have anyone who fits it. I guess it’s a start, but I was hoping we’d have a name by now. Names make it easier to track people down, as without that, people can slip in between your fingers to hide out elsewhere,” Chrysalis told me. 

“I understand what you’re saying, but we’ll be fine. If we can figure out a little bit more, we’ll be able to grasp at the truth. For now, let’s head back to the Prosecutor’s Office. There’s not a moment to lose, so we should get to business as soon as possible,” I said. 

“I’m going to go on and call Sora. If we can get a hold of her, she can drag Prosecutor Yin out of whatever hole she might be hiding under. Given how she behaves, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was curled up under a bridge,” Chrysalis teased. “I mean, she’s not actually all that mean, just... Stubborn. That’s not a bad thing, don’t get me wrong, It's just... She’s unique.” 

I chuckled. “It’s okay. I know exactly what you’re saying. Go on and call Sora,” I told her.  

Chrysalis nodded and pulled out her phone, pressing a few areas on the screen before holding the device up to her ear. I let her talk to Sora, ignoring what she was saying as I glanced around the room. 

It had been so long since we had been given the chance to work on a case together. Back in the day, we were struggling to learn how the system worked together, but after Venus and Cassidy came along, we were able to expand our roster slightly, and it took us a while to get on a case together again. The Oracle project only made that harder, as she was always busy trying to make sure the legal system wasn’t acting out (which it normally was). 

Then there were the other members of the agency. They had helped us out quite a bit, and while I didn’t want to believe any of them would betray us, I couldn’t help my concerns. I didn’t want to reach out to them at this point, as it was too great a risk, so Chrysalis and I would have to be content with just each other until we sorted things out. I didn’t want to put her in danger by reaching out. 

I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them happened to know about the case at hand. I mean, this was a rather significant killing. The victim was a well-known prosecutor who was investigating the dangerous Emsthorpe crime ring, and given how our last case went, it was instantly important to us. We had come face-to-face with the leader of the ring, and now, one of his underlings had likely killed the victim. It was enough to make my heart pound a bit faster. 

I watched Chrysalis finish her conversation and tuck her phone away. She looked up to me with a nod. “Alright. Sora’s down at the Prosecutor’s Office, and she’s going to find Prosecutor Yin for us. From there, we can talk about what they saw at the time of the murder, which should make tracking our mysterious defense attorney much easier,” she told me. “We should get going now.” 

We both rose to our feet, leaving the bench behind to head for the door. I paused for a moment, looking down at Chrysalis. She followed my lead in stopping our travel to focus her gaze up in my direction. “What is it?” she asked, seemingly able to sense I had something on my mind. 

“Do you miss the others from our agency? Does it bother you that we haven’t seen them in a while?” I finally questioned, though it took me a moment to gather up the courage to ask her what had been on my mind. 

Chrysalis hesitated before nodding. “Yeah... I mean, I know it’s a matter of necessity that we don’t see them, as the fate of the Oracle project and the whole legal system hangs in the balance, but... I still miss them. If the circumstances were any different, I would try to find the traitor so I could be with the rest of them. However, we don’t have time for something like that. Instead, we’ll just have to deal with the hand we were given, and while I’m not a fan of that idea, we don’t exactly have any other options as far as I’m aware,” she answered.  

“I understand your hesitation. I wish things could go back to normal, but we can’t do much about it right now. The case at hand is our focus at the moment, and we can’t afford to slack off with the stakes this high,” I murmured, shaking my head.  

“I guess that’s just all the more reason to get this case over with as soon as possible. The sooner this is over and done with, the sooner we can move on and figure out who from our agency is a traitor. I trust your judgement, so please don’t take this as a slight of any kind, Cotoli, but... I’m concerned, is all. I’m sorry if I’m coming off badly here,” Chrysalis apologized. 

“You don’t need to be sorry at all. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen. I couldn’t have known this was going to happen. All we can do now is face it head-on and determine what it is we can do to make things better. However, we can’t do much about it while this case is still going on. We have other engagements, and It's probably best if we don’t keep Sora waiting for too long. You know how impatient Prosecutor Yin can get,” I pointed out. 

Chrysalis giggled with a small nod. “Yes, you do make a good point... Let’s get to it,” she agreed, heading for the door. I followed her, not saying anything else on the matter.  

Even if we weren’t talking about it, we were both thinking about the implications of a traitor. It was hard to come to grips with even now, all this time later, but reality had always been a cruel mistress, and we would have to deal with it no matter what we thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's update time
> 
> -Digital


	26. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 6

**April 22**  

 **Prosecutor’s Office**  

 **1:15 PM**  

 **Chrysalis Starr**  

When we got to the Prosecutor’s Office for our investigation of the day, we saw three people standing in the lobby right away. I recognized one as Sora, making a grin appear on my face. Sora had come through and brought Prosecutor Yin along to tell us what she had seen at the time of the crime. I dashed up to her, ready to greet her and her two guests. 

The first person was Prosecutor Tora Yin. She had long brown hair reaching her hips. She had light blue bangs with braids of electric blue wrapping around her head to form a wreath shape. Her eyes were bright blue as well. She wore a simple yet formal white dress with a silvery blue choker. She completed the looks with pastel blue tights and black flats. 

The second person I recognized as Jay Yang, a defense attorney. He and Tora had been together as long as anyone could remember, whether they were butting heads in playful arguments or actually acting like they got along. Jay had deep brown hair, looking almost black, with blonde bangs. His hair was tied mostly back into a ponytail. He wore a beige suit with a yellow plastic flower in his chest pocket. He opted out of a tie, instead leaving the top few buttons of his white undershirt undone. He managed to look casual and formal at the same time, something I had gotten used to with him over the years. 

“It’s good to see you again, Cotoli,” Jay said with a wide grin. He had always been laxer with titles than Prosecutor Yin, so he was on a first name basis with me and my brother while Tora opted to use titles instead. I didn’t know how they could be so close but be so different at the same time. 

“As to you,” Cotoli nodded, giving him a small smile in return. “Prosecutor Yin, it’s been far too long.” 

“I heard you wanted to talk to me. You would not believe how noisy Sora was when calling me to call me here,” Prosecutor Yin remarked with a playful eye roll. Her sense of humor mostly consisted of sarcasm and snarky remarks, but I knew she wasn’t trying to go out of her way to spite us in this situation. She was just trying to be nice, though she did that in her own weird little way. 

“Yes. We heard you were here at the Prosecutor’s Office yesterday. I take it that you already know about the full details behind the murder, yes?” I said. 

“Straight to business as usual, Ms. Starr... I was here. Of course I was. For crying out loud, I work here. Why wouldn’t I have been here? I was in to finish up some last-minute paperwork before taking the day off. I had some other things to take care of after I finished the day,” Prosecutor Yin replied. “I know what you want to hear about already. You want to know about what I figured out about the defense attorney I saw.” 

“Yes. You can read our minds,” Cotoli teased, a small smirk on his face. That was as far as he went with joking around where Prosecutor Yin was concerned, and I liked seeing him so relaxed. 

“Well, I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I knew the victim well from working with him on a few cases, and I don’t like that he died this way... He did deserve better. As for the person I saw at the time of the crime, it was a man with dark hair. He was on the taller side. I hadn’t ever seen him before, but I felt like he came off as familiar... Does that make sense?” Prosecutor Yin asked, shaking her head. “I don’t know if that will mean much of anything to you, but I figured I would throw it out there.” 

“So, you felt like you had met him before despite having never met him... How odd. I wonder if maybe you ran into him by chance on another case. Maybe he was your rival one time when you went into court. Did you catch anything like his name?” Cotoli asked, crossing his arms. 

“I’m afraid not. I didn’t see anything about him aside from his appearance. He had dark eyes, and he didn’t seem to be looking very happy. He bumped into me while I was walking out, and he didn’t even bother looking back to apologize. How rude,” Prosecutor Yin scoffed, shaking her head.  

“Yeah. I was outside to pick her up for our day off. She was pretty grumpy when she got into the car, and she was complaining about the nerve of that man. I have to admit, it was rather entertaining to see her so angry over something so small. You would not believe how short her temper can get sometimes,” Jay teased, nudging Prosecutor Yin with his elbow. If the two of them weren’t as close as they were, I would have accused him of being rude and picking on her, but I knew better after seeing them interact like this for years.  

“Can you blame me? I mean, I’ve met rude people, but people like that just bug me to no end. I want to slap them for not having some common human decency. How hard is it to say, ‘excuse me’ or ‘sorry’? Apparently, it takes all the effort in the world, which is so frustrating,” Prosecutor Yin huffed.  

“Well, if he was being so rude, maybe he’s the type who would resort to murder if he felt he was being inconvenienced,” I heard Cotoli mutter.  

I looked up at him and frowned, nodding to myself. This man was already following the description of the culprit we had pulled together perfectly, and on top of that, we had a hair color. It would make sense if this was our culprit given his attitude.  

“I mean, rudeness does not equal murderous intent, but I do think this person is suspicious... Don’t quote me on that or anything. Now, I want to hear everything you know about the case. You know, assuming you’re alright with telling me what you’ve learned,” Prosecutor Yin said, crossing her arms. “I might know that a murder took place, but the specific details are hidden at the moment. I guess the press hasn’t gotten its grubby little hands on this case yet, which is probably for the best given that the media has no respect for the dead.” 

“You know, I can’t even disagree with you there. We wouldn’t mind telling you thought. If you’re going to be testifying in court tomorrow, which is likely given your position as a witness, we might as well tell you what the case is about. We can’t have you being completely clueless, you know,” Cotoli nodded. “Okay. What are you aware of regarding the case?” 

“I know that somebody died from being hit in the head by a briefcase. He was killed instantly from the injury, and the culprit is unknown. The victim is one Luis Cruz, a senior prosecutor and the father of the lead prosecutor on the case. Sora told me what she knew, and that was about it. If there’s anything else, then we haven’t heard about it,” Prosecutor Yin replied. “Now, what else is there? As the attorneys on the case, you must have some other information we don’t, so go on. Out with it.” 

“We know a little bit about the culprit. We know it’s a person of equal or slightly taller height than the victim. They were wearing gloves to keep from getting any fingerprints on the briefcase used as the murder weapon. The cut made on the back of the victim’s head indicates that he was slashed at from equal height, meaning anybody too much shorter than him, such as the defendant, is off the table. We also know they were this tall by default and without standing on anything, as the only convenient thing that could be used as a stool would be the chair found outside the crime scene. It was used to lock the defendant into the room to frame her,” Cotoli explained. 

“Color me impressed. You sure did manage to figure out quite a bit in the span of just a day,” Prosecutor Yin remarked with a shrug. “I must say, you never cease to surprise me.” 

“Is there anything else you know about the case? Give me everything you have. Any witness testimonies, any thoughts you have, or any other evidence that could be used to discover for the sake of the case,” Jay pressed. He seemed just as excited about this whole thing as could be. We didn’t get the chance to work together often, and he usually took any opportunities to learn more about a given case immediately and with a wide smile. He had always been the curious sort. 

“Hm... That’s a difficult question to answer... There are two witnesses and then testimony from the defendant, but I wouldn’t really say that it’s going well. We have one witness who claims the defendant is innocent. The two of them are cousins, so obviously there’s a connection there. As for the other witness, he hasn’t been saying much of anything to us. He seems to want to keep his secrets, which makes it much harder to figure out the truth behind this case,” I replied. 

“Who is this prosecutor you’re talking about? Maybe I know who it is, and that might make it easy to talk to him, you know, assuming you have an advantage from me telling you stuff about him,” Prosecutor Yin offered. 

“Yeah. I’ll do the best to help you out too,” Sora chimed in. “I like to think I know most of the prosecutors in this office pretty well, so I should be able to do something to help you out.” 

“Okay... In that case, the secondary witness who we have been doing our best to get some form of testimony out of is named Elec Daegana,” Cotoli told them. “Do either one of you two know him? Any ideas on how to approach him?” 

“Prosecutor Daegana has always been an odd one... He keeps to himself, to say the least. It’s hard to get him to say anything ever. He never speaks to anyone unless he’s spoken to first, and he only ever takes on cases when he can be alone,” Sora answered. “Nobody knows much about him since he hides everything behind that mask of his. I wish I could tell you more, but I don’t know anything aside from that about him. You hear the occasional bit of office gossip here and there, but it’s nothing significant enough to help you.” 

“Hm... I can’t say I can tell you much either. It’s not like I get the chance to talk to him either. We’re similar in the way we take each chance we can to be alone on our cases and avoid human interaction where possible. However, that’s about all I can tell you. If he has another reason for being quiet, then I don’t know it. Anybody who has tried to talk to him never really gets an answer out of him. It doesn’t work out well,” Prosecutor Yin agreed, shaking her head. 

“In other words, we’re going to try and deal with the most frustrating witness up to this point... I mean, I’m glad that we don’t have to interact with a corrupt prosecutor who loves to forge evidence or anything, but this isn’t going to be much easier to deal with. Why can’t we just have one easy witness? He could have stolen something from the scene of the crime, but he won’t say anything. It’s hard to figure out what his secrets are because of his stupid mask,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Can’t he just take it off?” 

“He must have a reason for not taking it off for all this time. I mean, I don’t know what that reasoning could possibly be, but I feel like there’s something behind it. He wouldn’t just wear it for no reason. Maybe he has a thought process similar to Judge Diaphan. I mean, she’s got her reasons for wearing a mask, and if she didn’t, she would probably draw more odd glances than if she did,” Sora suggested. 

“I guess there is a chance that’s the case... We can’t say for sure until we can push it out of him, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do that,” Cotoli murmured. 

“Maybe we could go and talk to him again. If we bring Prosecutor Yin and Sora along, maybe he’ll be more inclined to say something. I mean, the chances of that are slim, but we might as well try it, right?” I suggested. I was trying to sound hopeful despite feeling like the possibility of him saying anything important to the case or the truth behind his mask to us was basically zero. 

“I guess we’ll just have to see how things turn out. If we can drag him onto the witness stand, it should be easier to pester the truth out of him, and if he withholds too much, the judge will get on him,” Jay pointed out. “I mean, if you keep too much information quiet in court, you’re bound to get on trouble.” 

“That’s true... If you ask me, our two main hints as to what we should do next rest with the man Prosecutor Yin saw and the truth behind Prosecutor Daegana. We know Prosecutor Daegana couldn’t have committed this crime since he doesn’t match our description of the criminal, but we might as well try and get him to open up. Without him telling us what's going on, this is going to be much harder,” I said.  

“I don’t even know where to start. I haven’t seen any man like that ever since he came into the building as I was leaving the day of the crime. If anybody else has seen him, they haven’t said anything,” Prosecutor Yin frowned, shaking her head. “Hm... I hope we’ll be able to figure out the truth behind Prosecutor Daegana, because as far as I can tell, the man I saw is out of reach right now.” 

“So, it’s weird man with a mask or nothing. Those are our options? Wow, I’m really starting to hate my job and the people I have to deal with as part of it,” I groaned, shaking my head. Why couldn’t we have an easy case for once? This was supposed to be a distraction from the discord within the agency, which had once been my safe place, but instead, we had to deal with all of this. It was enough to give me a headache and make me want to scream, even if there wasn’t much I could do to change it. 

“I think we should go on and talk to Prosecutor Daegana. If we can’t find the other odd man who I ran into on my way out, we’ll just have to start elsewhere. Besides, the sooner we can poke a hole in what he has to say, the better. If he really did take something from the crime scene, then we need to figure out what it is. We can either use that against him in court or use it to our advantage in other ways. The nature of what he took is still a mystery, which makes things much harder for us,” Cotoli frowned. 

“I’m sure that we’ll figure something out. You don’t need to be all negative, Cotoli. I mean, you two have pulled out impossible victories, so this is like nothing. You can handle it, no problem,” Sora smiled, placing one hand on Cotoli’s shoulder and one on mine.  

“The difference is that in those other cases, we had an idea as to who the culprit was. In this case, we have no ideas. We need somewhere to start, but all we have is a description here. Most of the time, we figure out who it is rather easily since they return to the scene of the crime, but nobody has seen as anything yet. If they don’t come back, then it will be made much harder to deal with that,” I huffed, shaking my head. “How can we find them then?” 

“Luck. I’m not saying I have any other ideas, but it’s something,” Prosecutor Yin huffed. “Come on. Let’s try and talk to Prosecutor Daegana.” 

“If this kid has something to hide, then we’re going to get it out of him. We can’t let him get by without further pressing,” Jay said. He was easily the most optimistic of us all, and I must say, I applauded him. If I was hearing about a case I knew nothing about but seemed hopeless, I would probably have left it alone and not bothered to be perky and optimistic about the outcome.  

“Alright. If we’re all determined to take care of business with him, let’s hop to it!” Sora exclaimed. She began to guide me and Cotoli towards the nearby elevator to take us up a few floors. It was a bit of a crunch with five of us in there, and Cotoli didn’t seem very happy to be in such a small space with so many people, but we still reached our destination easily. 

We walked over to Prosecutor Daegana’s office, and we realized rather quickly that the door was locked. I looked to my companions before raising one hand and knocking against the wood. We waited a few moments, praying he was inside. 

It took about thirty seconds for Prosecutor Daegana to appear in the doorway. He had cracked the door enough for us to be able to see his mask, but there wasn’t much else I could catch a glimpse of. “What do you want?” he asked, clearly irritated at our interruption. 

“We want to talk to you, Prosecutor Daegana,” Sora chimed in, showing her face to the limited viewing space allowed by the crack. “We heard you were hiding something, and we would like to hear the full story.” 

Prosecutor Daegana stared at her for a moment. He shut the door, and I frowned. He couldn’t possibly mean to keep himself hidden away after we had asked him for his help. If so, then he really wasn’t somebody I wanted to irritate, because we needed to get him to talk to us if we wanted to have any chances of finding a lead or determining what is coming next in the investigation. 

I was about to voice my anger and dissatisfaction when the door opened fully, allowing us inside. I gaped at the door in shock, turning to look up at my companions before Jay took the first brave step towards the entrance. Sora trailed after him, and I followed them both inside.  

Prosecutor Daegana sat down behind his desk, arms crossed. He seemed to be looking at us, not that I could really tell since the mask hid his features so well. “What is it you want?” he asked, his voice intense. I got the feeling he was irritated Cotoli and I were back to ask him about this again, even after he had explicitly told us not to involve anybody else. Could he really blame us though? He had been hiding so much, and even if we wanted to, we would have to get him involved with the trial since he had been there at the scene of the crime after the body was discovered. On top of that, he had probably stolen something from the crime scene. 

I was the first one to speak up of the group. I pointed to the safe sitting on the floor. It had been pushed back against the wall instead of just sticking out into the middle of the walkway. He was trying to hide this better now, it seemed. “We would like to know what is in the safe,” I answered simply, crossing my arms. “We know you have something inside. Would you mind showing us what it is, Prosecutor Daegana?” 

Prosecutor Daegana’s facial expression was unreadable, but I could see his shoulders tense up ever so slightly. He looked over to the safe before shaking his head. “I’m afraid there’s nothing of note inside. Perhaps I can show you a bit later, but there’s no reason to do so right now. It isn’t related to the case at all,” he told us, shaking his head. “Maybe one other day, we can talk about it once again, but until then, I think you should leave it alone.” 

“Telling us to leave it alone isn’t going to help us out at all. It’s just going to make us more curious about what the truth you’re hiding is,” Sora pointed out, crossing her arms angrily.  

“I’m afraid I can’t say much of anything on the matter. It’s too dangerous for me to say the full truth. You will have to place your trust in me for the time being, and when the time finally comes, then I can tell you what is going on. I need the culprit gone and locked up before I can even think about speaking up,” Prosecutor Daegana told us.  

“But without your testimony about what you took, we don’t have any leads to help us find the culprit. You are the key to us finding the truth, and without you, we can’t do anything to continue with the investigation,” Cotoli frowned. “You can’t keep the truth hidden when we need your words in order to find the truth.” 

“You are strong lawyers, and I’m sure you know what you’re doing. Don’t doubt yourselves when you have done many amazing things to save people from suspicions of murder. You can solve this case as well, or at least hold off until the culprit shows himself again,” Prosecutor Daegana said. 

“Himself. You know something about the culprit,” Prosecutor Yin frowned, slamming one hand against the desk. “We want answers. Now.” 

Prosecutor Daegana just stared at her. I could have sworn I saw him jump slightly, but he didn’t show it excessively, instead focusing on her hand before shaking his head. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything on the matter. I don’t want to anger you, but this is my only choice.” 

“You keep telling us that you have no choice. What makes you think that? You’re the only one who can tell us what’s going on, and you haven’t spoken with anybody about what you know. Can’t you spare a moment to speak with us about what happened?” I pressed. 

“I can’t. If I could, I most certainly would. I don’t want to argue with you on this. If I had the option, I would have told you long ago. However, telling you has risks, and you’re the only people who can solve this. If I let you be placed in harm’s way, you could be killed. If you die, the hopes of the truth will die with you, and I refuse to let that happen. Until the culprit is arrested, I am going to have to keep this to myself. It’s not ideal, but that’s your only choice,” Prosecutor Daegana continued to insist. 

“Did we ask you for what we thought was your idea as to what was best? I don’t think we did. All we want is the truth behind what you saw and what you may have taken from the crime scene. We need you to open the safe. If it truly isn’t related to the case, then prove it. Show us you didn’t take anything,” Prosecutor Yin told him, her eyes on fire with intensity. “Evidence is everything. As a prosecutor, you should know this better than most people. Open the damn safe.” 

Even in the face of pressure from Prosecutor Yin, the younger man stayed firm. He ignored her rising anger, instead shrugging and shaking his head. “That simply isn’t an option. Unless you want to become the next targets of the killer, I advise that you leave the matter alone. You need to take him out while in a public space when he can’t fight back too much. The courtroom is the best spot. There are many trained officers there who will be ready to pounce on him the second he tries to act out of line.” 

“What makes this guy so dangerous?” I asked slowly. “And how do you know who he is? You can at least tell us that much, right? There’s no point in hiding it at this point when you’ve made it so clear you’re aware.” 

“He... He knew something about the victim that was supposed to stay secret. We were trying to find somebody together, but it backfired on him. Luckily, my involvement appears to have been hidden. If you say a word about this to anyone, not only will I be put in danger, but you will be as well for having come into contact with me and knowing the truth about what we were doing,” Prosecutor Daegana said, his voice quiet yet still frightening. “Hide everything that you have heard here today and never speak a word of it to a soul. That will put all of us at risk, and the case is as good as lost.” 

“The case is as good as lost? What are you talking about?” Cotoli questioned with a frown. “Please, stop speaking in riddles and just be up-front with us. This isn’t doing any of us a wink of good, and you surely are aware of such.” 

“If this murder trial is interrupted by something else, such as another murder, then attention will shift to the more recent crime. It will cut off the investigation immediately, and nobody will ever learn the truth behind the first murder case. The killer will go free using the extra time for the second investigation, and on top of that, all trials have a three-day period to be solved. If you take too long, or if the investigation takes too long, then the case will be let go once and for all. You’re the defense team. If you are harmed in the process to find the truth, nobody will want to revive the case aside from the prosecutor. This office is filled to the brim with corruption, so restarting the case from here would be difficult,” Prosecutor Daegana explained to us. 

“Wow. You sure are being thorough with all of this. As much as I hate to say it, he does have a point on the matter,” Sora sighed. “I wish it wasn’t the truth, but I’ve seen it firsthand... I can’t let that happen in good conscience while the killer is still out there. It’ll risk everything you have been working for... Everything we have been working for.” 

I knew what she was talking about. The case that had caused her to meet Prosecutor Yin and Jay had been an interruption case. It had cut off the murder trial for the death of Sora’s birth mother, and it was never solved because of the interruption in which Prosecutor Yin and Jay were attacked. She didn’t want to repeat the case that had harmed her so much all those years ago, and all the talk of endings from Prosecutor Daegana was likely frightening her.  

“I’m glad you understand and see my point of view. Now, I would like you to leave. The killer isn’t going to find himself. If you want to talk about something that won’t put any of us in danger, feel free to come and visit me. Until you’ve changed your mind though, then we part ways and act like this conversation never took place to begin with,” Prosecutor Daegana told us. He gestured to the door. “I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again.” 

Even if we all wanted to stay, I got the feeling Prosecutor Daegana was finished talking to us. I looked in between him and the door, and when he refused to look me in the eyes, I sighed and got to my feet. I was the first one to leave, and the others followed me out. Cotoli, who had come out last, shut the door behind him with a swift and quiet clicking sound. 

“That didn’t go very well,” Jay sighed, shaking his head once we were out into the hallway. “I don’t understand it. What was the point of that? Why would he know so much? What was he working with the victim to find out? As far as I can tell, they were rather close up until the murder took place.” 

I had a feeling in my gut, a twisting sensation that felt like I was getting stabbed, that this had something to do with the Emsthorpe crime ring we had heard the victim was looking into. I stared at my feet, shaking my head. “I wish I could tell you what was going through his head, but I can’t. I just... I don’t know what to think anymore. I think it’s time that we continue with our investigation. There has to be something else for us to do around here.” 

“Let’s talk to any other potential witnesses,” Cotoli suggested. “There were other prosecutors here at the time of the murder. We might as well see if any of them are aware of the truth behind the case. One of them had to have seen something, and we need to find out what could have happened.” 

There were no objections to his suggestion. We all followed him in silence. I was worried about what the future of this case could hold, but we would have to find out soon enough. We were going to figure out what the truth was no matter what. I was sure of it. 

At least, I hoped I was sure. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elec bad
> 
> Bad Elec
> 
> -Digital


	27. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 7

** April 22 **

** Prosecutor’s Office **

** 2:00 PM **

** Chrysalis Starr **

Soon after we decided to start looking for other witnesses, we realized that not many people were in the Prosecutor’s Office today. It  sort  of made sense, as anybody who was unrelated to the case wouldn’t need to be hanging around when the investigation was taking place. It was frustrating to think that many potential witnesses had already disappeared, but we would just have to roll with it. Maybe later we’d get lucky and find a few people who would help us, but for now, our only option was to bite our tongues and deal with it.

However, just because the Prosecutor’s Office didn’t have many people in it didn’t mean it was empty. The few people who were around had to be important, right? 

Our search had been underway for about ten minutes when we first ran into somebody who could help us out. I saw a person standing alone up against the wall outside their office, and it took me a moment to realize that the person was somebody I knew. As a matter of fact, it was Prosecutor Wood.

Sora was the first one to see her, and she practically threw herself through the air to greet her adopted daughter. “Baby!” she chirped, picking up Prosecutor Wood and wrapping her in one of the tightest hugs known to man. “What are you doing here? I thought that you would be at home waiting for me to get back still!”

“N-No... I had a few other things to take care of here,” Prosecutor Wood explained, barely able to choke her words out with Sora’s arms wrapped so tightly around her. “P-Prosecutor Lin, could you please let me go? I can’t breathe...”

Sora pulled back immediately, a sheepish smile on her face. “Ah... Sorry about that, Niamh,” she apologized. “We’re investigating the case is all. I didn’t expect you to be around here. I mean, barely any prosecutors are around. If they haven’t been deemed helpful to the case, the police let them go home, or rather, forced them to go home.”

“Since I’m living with you and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, I  was allowed to  stick around... The police officers didn’t seem eager on kicking me out when they’d have to deal with him once he found out,” Prosecutor Wood explained with a nervous laugh. “They’re acting like he’s a monster of some sorts. He’s just a guy, and a rather sleepy guy at that...”

“Hey, it lets me say hello to you at work, which is always a good thing. Now, let’s take a moment to talk about the other reason you’re here. Related to Ghastly or not, the only people that are left are related to the murder at hand. Would you happen to know anything about the victim or the way in which he was killed?” Sora asked, placing one hand on Prosecutor Wood’s shoulder. “Any details will help us out a lot, no matter how small and unimportant you think they are.”

“Well... If you’re  really so  sure... I was in my office most of the day of the crime,” Prosecutor Wood began to tell us. “I didn’t really have a reason to leave, so I didn’t... I stayed in there basically all day, but the one time I did leave, I did see somebody that I found a little bit odd... I figured at the time that somebody had a visitor, or that Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was going to be holding a meeting with that person as a guest, so I didn’t think much of it, but...” Her voice trailed off, and I didn’t need to be a psychic to know that she was thinking about the fact that the crime was committed shortly thereafter. 

“I see... Is there anything else that you noticed about this peculiar person? Is there anything at all that seemed out of place?”  Cotoli  pressed. I knew what he was thinking of too. He thought she was talking about the same person who Prosecutor Yin had run into at the time of the murder when she was leaving the office. If that was the case, then Prosecutor Wood could have very easily been the last clue we needed to find the culprit. If her description was accurate, then we’d be able to figure out who the killer was and call the case as good as done in a matter of half an hour or so. Wouldn’t that be a dream after all we had suffered through at the hands of  Prosecutor Daegana ?

“Hm... He was rather tall, but not quite as tall as you, Mr. Morix. He had dark brown hair and a badge pinned onto his jacket. I think it was an attorney’s badge, but you shouldn’t quote me on that, as I only saw it rather briefly... He walked past my office without giving me a second glance. I had been walking back there after taking a quick moment to grab some water. He bumped into me, and the water got everywhere... He didn’t apologize or anything either. Without giving me a second glance, he just kept on walking, like I didn’t even exist... I didn’t know what his deal was, but it was clear that he didn’t care much for the rest of the people in the office,” Prosecutor Wood explained.

“That sounds just like the person I saw at the time of the murder,” Prosecutor Yin murmured. “What else did you notice about him? Anything at all you found odd. We can use it for sure.”

“I... Um... I didn’t really give him much thought, I’m afraid. I was a bit busy running off to the bathroom to clean up the cold water I had spilled all over myself. If he did anything else, I didn’t notice it, and he didn’t give many signs that he was going to act out either... I wish I could tell you who he was, but I’m afraid that’s out of my power since I didn’t see enough of him. I apologize ,” Prosecutor  Wood said, her voice quiet from embarrassment. “If I had known he was going to... I would have paid more attention.”

“You don’t need to worry at all. You couldn’t have been aware he was going to try anything like that, so you really shouldn’t worry yourself. Nobody could have known. Now, let’s talk about what else you saw... Was there anything else you noticed the day of the crime that could have been considered odd? Did you see any other prosecutors doing odd things, or was it just that man who was seeming strange to you?” Jay asked, crossing his arms. 

It took me a moment to realize that he and Prosecutor Yin had never officially introduced themselves to Prosecutor  Wood, but  given that they were all related to Sora in some way, that probably wasn’t necessary since they had likely met before. I felt kind of stupid for a moment after realizing that since I hadn’t caught onto it sooner.

“Hm... I really can’t think of much else, but there was one thing I noticed when I was on the way to investigate the crime scene after the murder was announced. I didn’t know who was going to be taking the case at the time, so I decided to prepare like I would be seeing it through in court,” Prosecutor Wood replied. “That was when I saw Prosecutor  Daegana  walking out of the room where the murder took place.”

“You saw him leaving the crime scene?” I asked in shock, my eyes going wide. This was just what we needed. If Prosecutor Wood saw the right thing, then this was going to be exactly how we pinned down Prosecutor  Daegana  as having stolen from the crime scene. This was perfect. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t known about this sooner, but then again, that was one thing that made this case so difficult. The murder wasn’t something anyone anticipated, and it was easy to pass off anything unusual that happened as normal. That included the odd attorney who had appeared at the time of the crime and Prosecutor  Daegana’s  sneaking around in the office where the victim was killed.

“Yes... He was walking rather oddly as well, like there was something weighing down half of his body, if that makes any sense. I don’t really know how else to describe it,” Prosecutor Wood frowned with a small shrug. “As far as I could tell, one side of his body was completely normal, but the other side was held back by some extra weight, and a lot of it.”

“ That sounds like something a prosecutor would notice that a regular person wouldn’t, since you’ve always been taught to look for clues no matter where they are,” Jay realized, reaching over to ruffle Prosecutor Wood’s hair. “Aren’t you being a great little crime solver? Always ready to hop onto a case to figure out who could have done it!”

“That sounds like my Niamh alright!” Sora grinned, clapping her hands together in excitement. “Is there anything else you happened to notice? Anything at all will do. Don’t hold back one bit!”

“No... I didn’t think Prosecutor  Daegana  was acting too oddly. I figured he was just limping or something at the time since his walking hasn’t ever been perfectly normal,” Prosecutor Wood shrugged.

“His walking hasn’t ever been normal?” I echoed. “What does that mean? Is there something that’s keeping him from having a regular way of moving around?”

“There could be, but he never talks about it. I suspect he has some sort of issues with his legs. I hope I’m not making any large assumptions by saying that, but... It’s what his walking makes me think of,” Prosecutor Wood frowned.

I looked to  Cotoli , already sure of what was going through his head. Prosecutor  Daegana  had tripped on the safe the day before, but he showed no signs of being in pain or anything. Could he have possibly not felt anything in that leg? Was that even possible to do while still walking on it? Even if you cut off circulation, you’d feel pins and needles, right? How did any of this make sense?

“I agree with you. There must be a problem of sorts with his legs, though I don’t know what it could possibly be,”  Cotoli  murmured, shaking his head. “That must be how he didn’t feel any pain when he tripped over the safe. It’s not as if the corner of that thing was dull enough to ignore.”

“Yeah. The corner was certainly sharp enough to gain anyone’s attention, and yet, he was able to shrug it off like it was nothing... I don’t understand how that could be the case, but I suppose that’s just how the cookie crumbled,” I sighed, shaking my head. “Well, I think that we’ve learned something important here today. We know for sure now that Prosecutor  Daegana  did smuggle something out of the office, and it was heavy enough to weigh him down on one side. It looked relatively normal to most outside viewers, just like he was limping. It’s the perfect way to hide that he took something to begin with. As much as I hate to say it, smart move on his part.”

“I feel the same way... Thank you for talking to us, Prosecutor Wood. Do you think that you’ll be testifying in tomorrow’s trial?”  Cotoli  inquired, turning his attention back towards the young prosecutor.

Prosecutor Wood shrugged slowly. “I... I’m not entirely sure. If I am, I didn’t hear anything about it. Nobody even suggested it until just now... But you seem  pretty insistent  that this is important, so maybe I’ll have to talk to Prosecutor Cruz about it. I think he’s the leading prosecutor on the case, which means that if anybody called me up to the stand, it would be him, right?” she asked. I noticed that she was still avoiding eye contact. “You know, unless you two wanted to call me up to the stand to talk about what I saw...”

“We might have to, but I think you should talk to Prosecutor Cruz about it first. If he decides not to call you, though I highly suspect he will summon you given that you saw something important, then feel free to come to us. We’ll ask you no matter what he says on the matter. How does that sound?”  Cotoli  questioned of her.

Prosecutor Wood nodded. “Alright. Sure. That sounds good,” she murmured, though I could tell she was trying to hype herself up for this. It was in character given how nervous she could get, but I still felt bad for her. Testifying could be nerve-wracking, but it wasn’t as bad as she was thinking.

“Oh, yeah. You said you were investigating the crime scene at the time you saw Prosecutor  Daegana  leaving the office, right?” Sora asked.

“Yeah... I was planning on it, but I didn’t really get the chance to do much of anything. Since I didn’t know who the lead prosecutor was going to be, I went in with the assumption that I would be doing it. I was tossed out of the crime scene soon after getting there. I guess the police are okay with me being in the same building as the crime scene, but investigating the scene of the murder is out of the question regardless of my relation to the chief  prosecutor ,” Prosecutor Wood answered.

“Given the horrible way that the people involved with this case have been treated, that doesn’t exactly surprise me. The arrest was made before the detective arrived, the defendant was taken into custody since she speaks no English, and the assistant prosecutor on the case wasn’t given the files until the day the trial began,”  Cotoli  told her with a small smile. It appeared the grin was there only to assure Prosecutor Wood rather than as a reflection of the situation.  Cotoli’s  eyes told me that he was screaming in frustration on the inside, though he hid it behind a rather solid poker, face, I have to admit.

“I won’t let it discourage me from testifying though. I  have to  help you all track down the killer... We can’t just let them get away, right?” Prosecutor Wood asked, determination shining in her eyes. “I’ll go and talk with Prosecutor Cruz about taking to the stand tomorrow. How does that sound?”

“You go, girl! I’ll see you later!” Sora chirped, waving frantically as Prosecutor Wood walked away to find Prosecutor Cruz, wherever the hell he was. “Isn’t she just the sweetest girl?”

“What about me?” I asked sarcastically with a playful roll of my eyes. “I think I qualify as a sweet girl. I hope. Do I?” I had been mostly joking at first, but I couldn’t help but wonder if being a spy cancelled out any sweetness I may have had. Can spies be sweet, or is that strictly off limits?

“ Of course  you do,” Sora smiled, rustling a hand through my hair the best she could. “Now, what’s the plan? Are we going to go and talk to Prosecutor Cruz? If he’s been investigating the way we have, then he surely has found at least something by now, and if he has, we can use that to our advantage to pull out a victory on this case.”

“You know, Sora, you’re saying ‘we’ a lot for someone who isn’t going to be joining us when this trial goes to court,”  Cotoli  said playfully. “As far as I’m aware, it’ll just be me and Chrysalis standing behind the defense bench when we return to the courtroom tomorrow morning, not all five of us.”

“Yes, but I'll be watching from the gallery with Jay. He wouldn’t just leave his beloved to testify without going to watch. That’s just not like him. And, you know, Tora will be busy with approaching the stand to talk about the strange man, so we’ll all have our places tomorrow. As for you two, you’ll be responsible for actually winning the case to set the defendant free,” Sora explained.

“Well, alright. I agree that we should go and speak with Prosecutor Cruz. He’s  definitely got  a lot on his plate, but we need as much help from him as we can get at this point. Do you have any ideas as to where he might be at this point of the investigation?”  Cotoli  questioned. 

“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. It’s just a matter of where it is at this point,” Sora shrugged. “I know him pretty well by now, and when he gets focused, he really goes off on a roll. Most of the time, he’s rather easy to anger, but if he concentrates enough on something, it’s like the rest of the world disappears so that he can think about whatever is on his mind.”

“In other words, we’ll have to be attentive if we want to find him. It’s all about looking closely,” I sighed. “And here I thought we were looking around enough as it was, but I guess the universe decided it was a great day to prove that I was wrong. Can’t I have one day of peace in this job, or is that just completely out of the question?”

“Regardless of what the universe says or wants us to do, we have to find him somehow. Let’s just start exploring. How does that sound?” Cotoli asked.

“Maybe we could go back to the crime scene. I mean, he has a strong connection to the place where the crime took place since it was his father’s office. If he wanted to investigate anything related to the case, he would probably want to start there,” Prosecutor Yin suggested. “That’s not my way of saying I’m perfectly sure that’s where he is, but it’s somewhere to start from, and right now, I think we need that about as much as certainty.”

Nobody  spoke  up against Prosecutor Yin’s suggestion, and we made our way over to the victim’s office together. Sure enough, Prosecutor Cruz was standing outside the crime scene. I didn’t see Polly anywhere nearby, and I wondered for a moment if they had decided to split up for the sake of furthering the investigation. Sometimes, that was the best course of action, and I figured that was the case right now too since Prosecutor Cruz wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk with many others with his relationship to the victim. All he seemed to want to do was find the killer, and while I couldn’t blame him for feeling this way, I thought it would be best for his sake and for everyone else’s if he took a few deep breaths and tried to work with other people. 

“Prosecutor Cruz, have you found much of interest yet?” Cotoli asked, approaching the other man slowly.

Prosecutor Cruz let out a huff, shaking his head. “No, nothing yet. It’s so frustrating. Why can’t the killer just show up already? I’ve talked to everybody I thought would be helpful, but I haven’t found anything that could point to the man who was mentioned in court. People either didn’t see him or wonder if he even exists to begin with. It’s so incredibly frustrating to deal with,” he grumbled. “I know he’s out there somewhere. He fits the description of a potential killer too well for it to just be a coincidence. We just need to find him...”

“If anybody is going to track him down, it’s going to be you. You’re an experienced prosecutor, and even if he tries to get away, you won’t let it happen. That’s one of the reasons you’re so great at your job. Now, is there anything else we can do to help you track down the person behind this?” Sora questioned, going to place a hand on Prosecutor Cruz’s shoulder. She ultimately pulled back when he took a step away to show his discomfort. 

Prosecutor Cruz frowned and shook his head. “I don’t even know where we’d be starting from here on out. No matter what we try, it’s not going to work out well. We  have to  find the killer, but that’s not easy when there’s not a single sign of him anywhere aside from witness testimony. Most of the time, a  killer returns  to the scene of their crime, but he’s not doing that. He’s staying as far away as possible, which I hate to admit is wise on his part but completely frustrating on ours,” he frowned.

“It’s hard to drag him out from under his hole when he refuses to show himself to us. Until he appears again, all we can do is wait around and try to find other evidence that would point to where he is, though that’s much easier said than done given the situation at hand and the fact that he’s basically disappeared,” I murmured, shaking my head bitterly.

“I guess we’ll just have to do our best in other ways then. Have you heard anything useful from the other prosecutors who were here in the office the day of the crime? We just finished speaking with Niamh to see if she knew anything. Apparently, she ran into the man Tora described but thought he was here for a meeting of some sort,” Sora told him.

“I haven’t heard about that yet... I need to go find her and make sure that she’s planning on testifying tomorrow. We need to make sure that she can tell us about what she saw the day of the crime,” Prosecutor Cruz said. “Do you know where she is now? The sooner I can hear what she saw, the better, as I’m sure you understand. The more time you have to prepare a testimony for court, the better.”

“Yes, I must agree with you there. She said she was going to come and find you, but I’m afraid we don’t know exactly where she is at this point. I’m sure you’ll run into her again soon enough, and when you do, she can tell you everything. If you don’t want to call her as a witness, then we can do so,” Cotoli said.

“I’ll go on and text her. I’ll tell her to meet you here, outside the crime scene, so she’s not just wandering around aimlessly. How does that sound?” Sora asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket to tap away at the screen. 

“Yeah, that sounds fine...” Prosecutor Cruz murmured, nodding slowly. “I don’t know where to go from here. Normally, there’s something to point to a killer, but we haven’t gotten much of anything. It’s so frustrating! It makes me want to just punch something!”

“How about instead of punching something you tell us everything you know about Prosecutor Daegana? Do you know about if there’s something wrong with his legs? He seems to be involved in something peculiar, to say the least,” Prosecutor Yin told him, a frown tight on her features. “He can trip and not feel any pain, for one thing, and he has an odd way of limping, and it makes you wonder if he’s entirely normal or not.”

“Where did you hear about him limping? How come I wasn’t made aware of it or anything?” Prosecutor Cruz asked, raising his eyebrow suspiciously. “Is this some secret witness testimony you’ve been keeping secret up to this point?”

“Not at all. We heard it from Niamh. She went to the crime scene after hearing something had gone wrong to attempt an investigation, and while she didn’t get the chance to investigate in detail, she did see Prosecutor  Daegana  leaving the room walking oddly. It was as if half his body was being weighed down. She described it as a strange sort of limp, meaning that something must be wrong with his legs. He doesn’t use crutches or anything though, so unless you were looking closely, you wouldn’t even see it,” Sora replied.

“I mean he has a cane, but that’s completely different from crutches. It seems more to be balancing him out than carrying all his weight, if that makes any sense. There’s definitely a difference, though I truly don’t see how it could be important,” Prosecutor Yin continued. 

“Hm... Well, I’m glad to tell you everything I know about Prosecutor  Daegana , even if I’m  really not  aware of much regarding him. He has his secrets, and he knows how to keep them hidden. It’s frustrating, but I guess some people are just like that when it comes to keeping things inside,” Prosecutor Cruz sighed. “I don’t know much about him, but he came to work here about two years ago.”

“I remember that. He was brought on by this older prosecutor named Menn Torr. He had apparently been guiding him for years in how to be the best prosecutor possible. Soon after, Prosecutor Torr passed away of illness, leaving all his property to Prosecutor  Daegana . He’s been living there ever since. Prosecutor  Daegana’s  age is unknown to everybody, as the only person who was fully aware was the mentor he had been living with for many years. Now, most of his past is a mystery, and nobody bothers snooping anymore since they know they won’t get an answer. He’s good at hiding things, meaning nobody can pressure anything out of him at all,” Sora frowned. “He’s as mysterious as it gets here in the office.”

“Hm... Did he always wear the mask and use the cane?” I asked, placing one finger on my chin. “I mean, I assume so  giv en that it’s the best way for him to hide everything, but I guess I might as well ask.” 

Even if I had done work as Oracle within the office before, I hadn’t encountered Prosecutor  Daegana  much up until this point. Since he avoided most people, I didn’t get close to him. He was suspicious, but since he wasn’t anywhere near as corrupt as some other prosecutors, I didn’t need to dig too deep into his past because there were others who wanted my attention more. I guess you could say that we existed in relative harmony, if that makes any sense.

“Yes, he’s always had the mask. If he’s taken it off before, it’s not like any of us have seen it. I don’t think he even takes it off when he’s alone in his office, like he’s scared someone will burst in and see his true face. I don’t know what he could possibly be hiding under that mask, but he really doesn’t want anybody to know about it. It’s something odd to think about, but I guess if it’s what makes him happy, we can’t do much about it. Somehow, I don’t think his true face is related to this case since he doesn’t fall into our description of the killer, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating,” Sora replied.

“So, he wears a mask for some unknown reason to keep his face hidden. His age is unknown since nobody is aware of the basic facts of his identity besides his name. He used to be taught by Prosecutor Menn Torr, and after Prosecutor Torr died, Prosecutor  Daegana  inherited everything he had. It sounds like something you’d see in a mystery book as opposed to real life, but sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction, so I guess that’s just how the cookie crumbled this time,” I said with a small frown. “I guess all we can do is wait and see.”

Sora gasped as she looked at her phone again, drawing the conversation subject away from Prosecutor Daegana. “Niamh is on her way over. We’ll go on and leave you in peace so that you can talk to her as much as you want to, Prosecutor Cruz. We already know what she’s seen, so we don’t need to stick around. I hope you have a nice day,” she told him, waving to the other man.

Prosecutor Cruz waved in response. He didn’t openly object to us leaving, so I took that as a sign that he wanted to be alone, even if it was just for a little while. He clearly had a lot on his mind, and without his sister or temporary partner around, he could think about everything that had happened. I didn’t know where the other two were, but I figured offering him some peace was best.

“What’s the plan now?” Jay asked once we had gotten out of earshot of Prosecutor Cruz.

“I think we should go and find Polly. She’s the assisting prosecutor, meaning that she must be doing something to help with the investigation. After that, we should go and talk to Ms. Giuseppe again to give her updates on the case. I don’t know if we’ll have a translator there, but if Ms. Cruz isn’t with her brother, she’s probably visiting her cousin in the detention center,” Cotoli suggested.

“Alright. I’m glad to hear we have a plan. Let’s try and find Polly. It’s better that we see her before she reunites with Prosecutor Cruz, because if she walks in on Niamh’s pending conversation with Prosecutor Cruz, all hell will break loose. I wish I could tell you why they don’t get along, but they really hate each other,” Sora frowned.

“Then let’s go find her,” Jay agreed. When nobody objected, we started our search of the building to find Polly and ask about her investigative process.

Despite being mostly focused on the investigation, I couldn’t help but wonder about the other people who worked at the  agency.  It had been so long since we’d seen each other, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they were up to now after all this time. I hoped they were okay, even if our relationship was ultimately tense given the case from earlier in the month. Whatever they were doing, I hoped they were happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An investigation with three parts instead of two? Funky!!
> 
> -Digital


	28. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 8

**April 22**

**Deirdre's Apartment**

**2:45 PM**

**Deirdre Brigit**

I was sitting on my couch, leaning over to pet Kiki. She had been working hard all day, and it was time for her to take a moment to rest. She wasn't used to me being home daily yet, and honestly, I wasn't either. However, it wasn't like I had any choices in adjusting. I had to stay with my sister if I wasn't at work. She could always use the extra help around the house, especially with money even tighter now that I couldn't work much.

I had taken on a job as a waitress since the betrayal incident to keep income streaming in, but I had today off. I was already starting to miss my time working as a lawyer, and it hadn't even been a month.

"Deirdre, do you need anything?"

I looked up to see Hiroko Toshi, my older sister's nurse, walking into the room. After my sister, Moira, had lost use of her legs in a car crash a few years ago, we had hired Hiroko to take care of her. I couldn't exactly stay home to look after her when I had to bring money in, so I had Hiroko helped her out when I couldn't.

"I think I'm alright," I told her, though I wasn't exactly telling the truth. I really needed to find my job as a lawyer again, but even if I tried to apply for another law agency, nothing immediate had happened yet. I was put on the waiting list over and over again only to never get a call back. I technically still had my job down at Morix, and I didn't want to abandon hope, but I needed something to fall back on if Chrysalis and Mr. Morix decided to keep everyone away forever.

"Alright... I'll be here if you need anything," Hiroko told me with a small nod. She seemed to be able to sense that I didn't want to talk to anybody, so she walked out of the room, leaving me alone in the living room of my apartment with Kiki.

I had heard about a murder at the Prosecutor's Office a few days ago, but I didn't know how to approach an investigation, especially since I wasn't sure if I still had a job. Maybe I could go and see the trial. I was sure the lawyer who had taken it on had everything under control. Besides, could I even be sure I still had a job? There was too much uncertainty surrounding my life. I couldn't spare some time to see the trial when I needed to go to the restaurant and put in some time.

Granted, I didn't have work the next day, and if I did want to come in later on, I could do so in the afternoon. It wouldn't hurt too much if I decided to slip away to watch the trial, right? I needed some time to myself anyways, and a trial was always a good distraction.

**April 22**

**Shield Household**

**2:50 PM**

**Lily Shield**

Robbie was out working, and Mother was busy as well. I was alone in the house for the day. The Prosecutor's Office had been thrown into turmoil when a murder took place, and Robbie was helping out with the police investigation somehow. He hadn't been in the mood to give many details when he got home. Mother was still working as a judge, meaning she didn't get home until late with all the paperwork she had to do during the day. I felt awful for her, having to do so much, but she never let me worry too much while she was around. I had to do it on my own time.

Maybe I could go and check on Robbie sometime soon. That would be a good idea, right? It wasn't like he could stop me or anything, which means it was my choice. I didn't want to go against him, but I didn't have much of anything to do anyways. All I could do was sit like a lump on a pickle until Robbie and Mother got home.

They didn't want me to go out and find another job yet since I was still unsure about the future, and for a good reason. They knew I wasn't a traitor, as I was simply far too kind and charming to go out of my way to betray my friends that way, and they were right as could be. When the traitor inevitably was found, then we would have the opportunity to come back together like nothing had happened to begin with. I longed for those days already. I was sick of just waiting. It had to end one day, but I was still worried.

The trial for the murder in the Prosecutor's Office was still going on as far as I was aware. That meant I could swing in and see what was going on. Maybe Robbie would be allowed to slip away from the crime scene to watch it with me. It had been a while since we were given a chance to watch a trial together. In fact, I hadn't done it since I was training to be a lawyer with his guidance.

I grabbed my phone and checked the time. I wouldn't be able to get into the crime scene at this point since I wasn't related to the case, but I could still set an alarm to be at the courthouse for the trial at ten the next morning. I needed to get out of the house instead of sitting around all day moping anyways.

As I set the alarm, I grinned to myself. I was finally going to find the chance to do something with myself after all this time. This was exactly what I needed, and I wasn't going to let the chance slip away from me. Lily Shield was going to have a good day watching a trial, and that was that! The universe couldn't stop me now!

**April 22**

**Rinko Household**

**2:55 PM**

**Yuri Rinko**

I wasn't able to visit the agency anymore to spend my free time doing something useful, so I was forced to go to school like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. I was bored out of my mind! High school was so boring! Could you really blame me for wanting something to do? I had watched the same TV show at least three times from start to finish now. Monsieur Cat could only keep me entertained for so long, and I practically knew the whole show by heart now. Nothing could get in the way of me and my memorization, and with how well I knew the lines, the developers should have just cast me on the show, no questions asked!

I had seen Chrysalis in the halls of our school a few times, but we didn't say much of anything to each other. I would try and reach out, but she didn't seem to want to talk at all, so I left her to her own devices. She had a lot on her mind between the traitor and the Oracle project. Not much had been done to rid the agency of the culprit, and I was starting to wonder if somebody was planning to betray us in the first place. If not, the Emsthorpe group sure had done a good job in throwing us for a loop and frustrating us all to no end.

I didn't know how to come to a conclusion about all of this. No matter what idea came to mind, something always seemed to be against it. Investigating on my own was a horrible idea. If there really was a traitor in the agency, and someone part of the Emsthorpe ring, no less, then we'd all be as good as dead the second they realized we were acting out.

Part of me was sure that it wasn't Deirdre or Lily since they had been around the longest, but at the same time, I couldn't be sure. That left Victoria and Cormous, and I knew Victoria pretty well by now thanks to our most recent case. As for Cormous, I didn't know him very well, but I trusted Mr. Morix and knew he wouldn't hire anybody he thought was blatantly suspicious. That just got me back to square one. If it was Mr. Morix or Chrysalis, they wouldn't have kicked everybody out, instead asking us to go on with life as usual.

I'd need a way to meet up with them to talk about everything. We couldn't just let the traitor win by splitting us up. If we could figure out who it was, then we could kick them to the curb, or perhaps just throw them in jail, and call it a day. Then maybe everything would go back to normal, which was the only thing I wanted at this point. Peace, please come and consume us!

**April 22**

**Prosecutor's Office**

**3:00 PM**

**Sora Lin**

We finally found Polly standing outside the Prosecutor's Office with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't seem to be in a very good mood, which I admit I expected, but it still didn't make the revelation any better. We walked closer to her slowly, and Cotoli was the first one to speak.

"Hey, Polly," he remarked, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Cotoli... You've come to investigate, yes?" Polly asked, though she already knew the answer. I really didn't see the point of her asking, but if it was what floated her boat, who was I to get in the way of it?

"Yes, though I'm sad to say that we really didn't learn much of anything. We heard from a second eyewitness that the person Prosecutor Yin saw was wandering around the office, but since she suspected he was just a visitor to the office, she didn't ask anything of him. It confirms what we already knew, which is alright given the circumstances we're in," Cotoli replied. "Judging by the scowl on your face, I think I can guess that you haven't had quite as much look in the investigation department."

"No... I'm afraid I'm coming up painfully short. No matter what I try to do to find the culprit, don't see anything. It's so frustrating. I don't think the killer came back to the crime scene, which is something new. I've seen most killers return, but in this case, I suppose not," Polly frowned.

"Yeah. It's so frequent that the culprit will come back to make sure no evidence remained, but this time, I suppose the killer was confident enough to just run off. I don't like it one bit... But I guess all we can do now is try to track them down with the evidence we have while still keeping up a safe distance," I said.

"The killer is surely dangerous, but I think we should still try and figure out the truth to the best of our ability... I mean, the truth behind this case seems like it's desperate to be hidden. Let's investigate further," Chrysalis suggested. Despite her words, I could tell she was still concerned about the dangerous killer who had committed this crime. She could hide her feelings from most people, but I was not one to be impacted by such a thing. I knew her far too well to let her keep everything she felt hidden.

"I didn't find anything in my investigation, and I practically scoured the entire building. It's going to be a miracle if we can come up with something conclusive by tomorrow, much less in the entire three-day time limit. If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't think that we're even going to make the full time limit for trials under this system. We still haven't found enough to point to a specific person, and we need a suspect if we want to prove who committed this crime," Polly sighed.

"Well, if we have to work harder, who cares? We'll find something soon enough. If we try hard enough, they won't get away. We won't let them get away. No matter how much they try, I won't let them escape," I grinned, slamming a fist into my other hand, which was waiting with an open palm.

"If you're really so sure that we'll fix things... I personally wouldn't be so confident, but I guess some hope won't hurt given the situation. We're more likely to continue the investigation and do well if we're thinking things will go well. Self-talk studies and all that stuff have proven it," Polly said, though despite what she was talking about being generally positive, she sounded like she wanted to slam somebody's head into a wall, preferably her own.

"You should probably head over to where Prosecutor Cruz is talking to the witness. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to hear about it tomorrow, but it would be better for everyone if you were as prepared as possible. The case is miserable enough as it is without one of the prosecutors being under-prepared, you know?" I suggested.

I really didn't want to say something like that given how Niamh and Polly where nowhere near getting along. I hadn't ever been able to figure out the full reason why despite my attempts to press it out of them. Niamh liked her just fine, but Polly seemed to hold a grudge. It was probably best if she found out later who the witness was.

"Honestly, at this point, anything that will end this case sooner is completely welcome, no matter what it is. If we have to deal with a witness showing up at the last possible second, then fine. At this point, that's all we can really cling to since the killer decided to turn tail and run. I swear, as soon as I find the person who did this, I am going to slap them upside the head until they pass out. They're causing everyone so much grief in between committing murder and making the crime scene an absolute wreck that's nearly impossible to deal with," Polly grumbled. I got the feeling she was aiming her little tangent more at the killer than she was at us, so I chose not to comment on it. It was better if I left her to her own rage fit.

"Is there anything else we should be telling you? I mean, we learned more about Prosecutor Daegana, but it's just regular information most people in the Prosecutor's Office are aware of, so you probably heard about it already. If not, Prosecutor Cruz can fill you in on everything involving him and Menn Torr. He could probably explain it to you much better than we ever could," Chrysalis said. "As a matter of fact, you were probably already working here when Prosecutor Torr was still alive, back before he left his inheritance to Prosecutor Daegana..."

"Yeah. I know all that stuff about Prosecutor Daegana since I was there for it. I can't believe he's still acting like this, all secretive. I know realistically that there's nothing that I can do on the matter to make it all change, but it's still just as frustrating as you would expect," Polly sighed. "Anyways, I should head over to see Prosecutor Cruz. We have an investigation to finish, even if we don't have much to go off in the first place. I might as well get it over with so that I can go back home and slam my face into a wall."

Polly walked away as we waved briefly. I watched as she disappeared into the depths of the office before turning to the other people in our unofficial investigation group. "Well, I think it's time for us to head over to the detention center. We should talk to the defendant one more time. Plus, Ms. Cruz might be there," I suggested to the others casually.

"Alright. We should head on out then," Cotoli nodded starting to walk away. I was going to have to go in a different car, and the same applied to Tora and Jay. Imagine that. A group of five people needing to take five different cars since everybody was stupid and decided not to carpool. Look at us, the biggest band of idiots to ever investigate a murder! We may be stupid, but we are doing our best, but that's what counts!

**April 22**

**Von Graye Apartment**

**3:00 PM**

**Victoria von Graye**

My boyfriend was out for the day, so I basically had the apartment to myself. I was so glad that my mother had money for us when we came over from Germany all that time ago. Since our family had been so rich back then, we could use our wealth to our advantage and use it to tide us over while we waited for everything to calm down. Until we found a sense of normality again, it was all we really had to help us through these trying times.

I stared up at the ceiling wordlessly. Why couldn't the universe just have mercy on me for once? Hadn't I suffered enough at the hands of my father and brothers? After all those years of hating myself and the people around me, I had finally found a place to belong, and now, it had been torn away from me. Whatever higher power existed out there truly was being harsh towards me.

I picked up my phone after looking at the top of my room for ages. I didn't bother trying to count the time anymore, instead letting my phone tell me how long I dozed off, gazing into a faraway space. I saw a news notification, and I clicked on it with a small frown.

This was the first time my phone had buzzed since the week began, so I couldn't help but wonder if something was happening to make everything go wrong. This wasn't the end of existence as we knew it, right? The world couldn't be ending while I was this unhappy! I needed at least one more moment of smiling and feeling joyful!

The notification soon showed itself to not be a warning that the world was ending, but instead, an article explaining that a crime had taken place at the Prosecutor's Office in the city. A prosecutor had been killed in his own office for unknown reasons, and the case was ongoing.

Maybe I could go and see what was going on! The investigation may still be going the next day, and if it was, I could drop in and look around. If I could find out more about the truth, I would have something to do, which was all I could ask for at this point. I was probably jumping to a lot of conclusions, but it was something to think about. Plus, it could help me to prove I'm trustworthy!

I was practically murdering my cheeks from the pain of smiling so much after a few minutes, but I didn't care one bit. I was going to use this opportunity to my advantage, and nothing in the universe could stop me. The Prosecutor's Office was waiting for me to show up the next day, and it was going to be amazing! Everything was about to fall into place, and no traitor was going to get me down for any longer! Not on my watch!

**April 22**

**Cormous' Apartment**

**3:05 PM**

**Cormous Arme**

Since the traitor incident had taken place, I hadn't exactly been given much to do. I got to sit around in my apartment, not doing much of anything. I didn't have money to spare, but I had enough to get by, and that was what mattered at the end of the day. Keeping a roof over my head was most important. The large loan I had been given upon setting out to join the agency was more than enough to help me through this full situation. When everything was worked out, I could go back. I'd start earning money then, and everything would go back to normal as if this traitor incident hadn't happened in the first place.

It was such a pain to deal with. Anyone would shut others out when something like this happened, but I still hated the way they were doing it. Why did it have to be taken out on us, the people who worked at the agency? They could let us still work there while continuing an investigation into the traitor. Who even knew if that assassin was telling the truth? If he was lying, then we were all suffering for nothing. Mr. Morix and Chrysalis would have to deal with that resting on their consciences when the truth finally came out.

I really didn't think there was a traitor. If so, why go out and just say so clearly that somebody was a liar? Was there even a point in that? I didn't think so. It would only make people suspicious, and the traitor wouldn't be able to do any further work without being caught. It was counterproductive, and I think that was the part that frustrated me the most. The truth came out because of somebody who didn't need to say a word, and it was ripping everything apart at the seams.

I couldn't just keep sitting around here and doing nothing. I was getting sick of it. Just waiting was starting to give me a headache, and I couldn't keep it up for much longer. I had to get out of here. My apartment, once my favorite place in the world to be, was feeling more like a cage than a home. I needed some time to spend with myself, just a little while to explore the world that was out there like nothing was wrong.

I could go to the Prosecutor's Office since a case had taken place there recently. That would be a good idea, right? It wasn't like anybody could stop me, and if they couldn't stop me, then I could do what I wanted. It was a fine excuse to get out anyways, saying I was investigating when I was really just getting some fresh air. Sounded perfect to me. This traitor business wasn't keeping me down again for quite some time. I simply wasn't going to let it. With enough determination, nothing could frustrate me, and that included this.

**April 22**

**Detention Center**

**3:45 PM**

**Chrysalis Starr**

When we arrived at the detention center, Ms. Giuseppe was already on the other side of the glass. Ms. Cruz was conversing with her in Italian, and while I couldn't tell what they were saying, I could tell they were discussing something serious, and I didn't want to be the one to interrupt it.

Luckily, nobody needed to cut them off. Ms. Giuseppe pointed over Ms. Cruz's shoulder at us as we walked in, a small smile on her face. She waved enthusiastically and said a few things in Italian.

Ms. Cruz turned to face us. She waved us over slowly, and I could tell by her eyes that something bad happened. "What is it?" I asked nervously as I pulled up a chair and sat down.

"It's about the interrogation. Lira just got out of another interrogation, and she did her best to repeat what the police were saying to her. They tried to get her to confess again, but she didn't say anything. They said they'd let her go if she told them that she killed my father. Since she didn't, she didn't respond or say anything, and after a while, they got frustrated and sent her back here since I was waiting," Ms. Cruz explained.

"Of course... Why am I not surprised? She's not American enough for their standards, and since she doesn't fit the mold, she's come under suspicion. I knew this was the case back when the arrest first took place, but it's still frustrating," Cotoli mumbled unhappily.

"I see we feel the same way then..." I sighed, shaking my head. "I guess the best we can do at this point is try and prove that she didn't do it. The sooner we can do that, the sooner she'll be out of here and away from the police. They can't pester her into confessing if she isn't around to hear about potentially confessing to a crime she didn't commit, right?"

"The only problem is getting there. I mean, you guys know the investigation better than we do, but that doesn't change the fact that things are frustrating in this case. The killer decided to disappear off the face of the planet for the one day that we need to talk to him. Without him showing up again, it's going to be much harder to prove anything about what happened that day. It's all theoretical and logic, which is a strong weapon on its own, but it simply isn't enough to show that somebody didn't commit a crime," Prosecutor Yin said.

"You make a solid point. If we want to finish off this case, it will take more than what we've been given up to now. How incredibly irritating to deal with," Jay frowned. "Ms. Cruz, I believe your name is?"

"Who might you three be? I don't think we've been introduced yet," Ms. Cruz remarked hesitantly, looking to Sora, Jay, and Prosecutor Yin with cautious eyes.

"This is Sora Lin, our older sister, and Prosecutor Tora Yin and Jay Yang, her legal guardians. They decided to help us out with the second half of the investigation," I told her.

Ms. Cruz looked suspiciously to Jay. "He... He fits the description of the killer..." she hissed to me, her face pale.

"He has an alibi. He was with me the time of the crime. If he had done it, I wouldn't be defending him. Plus, he didn't enter the office the day of the crime. You don't need to worry about him at all. He might be a unique character, but he's no killer," Prosecutor Yin assured Ms. Cruz.

Ms. Cruz nodded slowly, clearly not convinced but not wanting to go further on the matter. "Did you find anything else out about the man who appeared in the office?" she asked, changing the subject casually.

"As a matter of fact, yes. We got testimony from a new witness who said that she saw him at the time of the crime walking around the building. She'll be called into court tomorrow to offer more details about what she saw then. If all goes well, we'll be able to narrow down our description of the culprit, and from there, we can figure out who committed this crime and drag them back to court without any other issues," I told her with a small smile. I was trying to stay positive despite the million thoughts in my head saying that this case was sucking due to the lack of evidence pointing to a specific killer.

"That's good to hear... Lira doesn't have anything else to say to you. She already told us everything that she saw at the time of the murder, and there's not much of a point in repeating it when you already have her testimony in your notes," Ms. Cruz said. "I don't have much else to say either. I hope that doesn't put too much of a damper on your investigation."

"It's alright. We didn't suspect you would have any new information anyways. We came here to tell you everything we had learned since we figured you would want to hear about it," Cotoli assured her with a warm grin. He had always been good at calming others down, which was rather ironic given that he never seemed to stop screaming on the inside. Not many others could notice the panic hiding in his gaze, but I could see it without any issues.

"Thank you for that. I really do appreciate any new information, and I'm sure Lira feels the same way. Now, is there anything else we should be aware of before the trial begins tomorrow, or do you think everything is okay as it is?" Ms. Cruz questioned.

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I think you should be prepared to hear about what this new witness saw. If things go well, she'll be the key to finding the truth. Plus, we'll be able to hear testimony from Prosecutor Yin here. She was the one to first notice the man the day of the crime," Cotoli replied with a small shrug.

"It sounds like you have everything under control then... I trust you," Ms. Cruz said, nodding with a small smile. She was definitely holding in her true feelings on the matter, but I was glad she was at least making an attempt to trust us.

"In that case, we'll leave you to your conversation with Ms. Giuseppe and be on our way. Until next time, Ms. Cruz," Cotoli smiled, waving to her. "We should be heading out anyways to prepare the rest of our evidence for the trial. It's not going to be an easy one, but I'm sure we'll be able to pull it off. You have nothing to worry about."

Ms. Cruz waved as we all walked out. Prosecutor Yin and Jay told us they had to get back to the Prosecutor's Office for a while, and Sora had to do the same to check on Niamh. That left just me and Cotoli standing outside the detention center in silence. Neither one of us said anything at first, but we didn't really need to. We knew what the other was thinking without voicing anything. It was just how our relationship as siblings worked, and it was perfectly fine with me.

I just hoped the trial worked out just as perfectly fine. It would take a lot of hope to get out of this one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so tired oof
> 
> -Digital


	29. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 9

** April 23 **

** Defendant Lobby No. 4 **

** 9:35 AM **

** Cotoli Morix **

I wasn’t going to  lie,  I was dreading this trial. Everything that we had learned about up to this point just implied that it was going to be horrible, that it was going to end badly, and the thought made me sick. Despite all our efforts, we still hadn’t made any progress in tracking down the killer. Without somebody to claim committed the crime, Ms. Giuseppe was going to be much harder to free. Was it still possible even without another suspect? Yes, technically. Had I been anticipating using such methods back when this case first began? No, definitely not.

Chrysalis and I sat down on the couch sitting up against the wall in the defendant lobby. She looked exhausted, and I could tell she hadn’t slept much the night before. Even if there wasn’t much we could do about it now, she still wanted to find the killer more than anything.

After the investigation had finished up the day before, she started searching for any clues left behind that would point us to the culprit’s true identity. Due to her wide reach of influence as the leader of the Oracle project, she had all sorts of resources at her disposal. However, her investigation came up short the way that ours had. We were going into this trial session with no ideas as to who could have done it, and we would have to hold our ground despite this roadblock. In other words, it wasn’t going to be much fun.

“Chrysalis, you really shouldn’t stress yourself out too much,” I told her with a heavy frown as a way of breaking the silence. I didn’t think she would really be in much of a talking mood, but it was something to start with, and from there, maybe we’d be able to find something else to talk about. Judging by how sunken her eyes looked, she needed it more than expected. 

“I can’t help it. If we don’t pull out a victory here, then we won’t be able to find a way to free Ms. Giuseppe. That’s important to do,” Chrysalis frowned, shaking her head. “But we can’t figure out who the culprit is, so there’s not much we can do today.”

“You’re thinking of it as wasted time then. I can’t particularly blame you for thinking such given that we tried so hard to find the truth but ultimately came up short in our investigation. All we need to do is find one little piece of evidence to figure out who did it. From there, we should be able to drag them onto the witness stand... At least, that’s what I’m hoping. I don’t know for sure how this is going to work out, but it’s something to hope, right?” I told her.

Chrysalis nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right... I don’t know who  did this , but they are surely going to suffer as soon as they’re found out,” she grumbled. 

“I wish there was more we could do, but I guess for now, all we can do is try and hold off the verdict for as long as possible. At least we have the prosecution on our side. If Polly and Prosecutor Cruz weren’t in the mood to help us out, then we would be in some serious trouble,” I said.

“You’re right there. Without a bit of help, then this would be much harder than it already is, and we’re grasping at straws as it is. All we need is one piece of evidence, one serious foothold to keep ourselves from slipping... The problem is that I don’t know where we can find such a thing. We finally had a killer smart enough to clean up their crime fully. It’s so aggravating,” Chrysalis sighed.

“There has to be some evidence left behind though. I mean, no crime is executed perfectly. There has to be something lingering at the scene of the crime, or something in the  building as a whole, that  will point us to who did it,” I pointed out hopefully. I knew she was going to notice I wasn’t exactly telling the truth, instead telling her what I hoped was the case rather than what I thought was going on.

“Alright,” Chrysalis frowned. She didn’t call me out on it, but I could tell she wasn’t placing her faith in what I was saying either. “Okay, let’s think about something else. I actually want to talk about the agency drama right now.”

I’m not going to  lie,  I was shocked to hear that. My eyes widened to show my blatant surprise. “You want to talk about the agency stuff?” I asked in surprise. “And here I thought you’d never want to talk about it. This case was supposed to be a distraction from what happened involving the  Emsthorpes  and a potential traitor entering our ranks.”

“Yeah, well, right now, I think I need a distraction from the distraction!” Chrysalis cried, throwing her arms up into the air in frustration. “I thought I had everything under control, but I am very sure now that I am not in any way in control given this situation. I just want to throw my head against a brick wall.”

“Don’t do something like that. I don’t want you to hurt yourself for the case of a murderer who doesn’t deserve your second thoughts at all,” I told her, placing one hand on her shoulder. “Now, is there anything else you want to talk about? Aside from the agency drama and the distraction case we’ve taken on?”

“I don’t know what to think about at this point. I just want the world to stop being like this,” Chrysalis sighed in frustration. “I think we should take a nice vacation after this is all over. That’s the least we deserve once  all of  this crap has been safely left in the past. That might keep me from blowing my top once it’s all over and done with.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” I couldn’t help but agree. “Let’s think about what we should do next. I don’t know what we should focus on, to be perfectly honest. There’s so much at stake here with the life of Ms. Giuseppe. On top of that, we have our potential theories about the culprit, which is only going to make things harder.”

I didn’t specify anything from there, and I don’t really think I needed to. Chrysalis knew what I was talking about, especially since we had just been talking about the drama of the agency with a traitor. The idea of the  Emsthorpe  ring being involved was something we didn’t want to talk about, and I didn’t even think we could, so we would have to settle for looking into each other’s eyes and praying the other understood. I was just happy we knew each other well enough to sense what the other was thinking.

“I don’t see Ms. Giuseppe,” Chrysalis suddenly commented. “Oh, wait. There she is. She and Ms. Cruz are coming in now.”

Chrysalis pointed to the door, and sure enough, Ms. Giuseppe was walking in with Ms. Cruz, but  both of them  looked rather frazzled, as if they couldn’t focus for some reason. I decided to wave them over, and once they noticed I was the one asking them to come closer, they immediately started the journey from the room’s entrance to the couch a couple yards away. I watched with silent anticipation.

“I have bad news,” Ms. Cruz frowned. She didn’t sit down, instead opting to pace around in front of the couch. She had to be panicky to be showing it in front of her cousin. Up to this point, she had been rather calm around Ms. Giuseppe, but this time appeared to be an exception.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. Whatever was going on obviously wasn’t good. She wouldn’t be so frightened if it was a minor issue.

“It’s the witness... I think her name is Niamh Wood. That sounds about right,” Ms. Cruz murmured. “She’s gone missing. We can’t find her.”

“What?!” Chrysalis cried out in shock. “But she’s supposed to testify today! What could have happened to her?!”

“Nobody knows for sure... She was set to appear at the courthouse this morning to tell everyone about what she saw, but she hasn’t shown up yet, and any attempts made to call her go to voicemail immediately. Her parents are working on tracking her location right now, but we aren’t sure if she’ll be here in time to tell us about what she saw or not,” Ms. Cruz replied.

“I’m worried about Sora and Ghastly... You know how they can get when somebody they know is in danger. Sora goes full on mother bear while Ghastly loses any sense of temperament he may have had before. I pray for mercy on the souls of people who think it a good idea to cross them at this moment,” Chrysalis said, but I could tell she was just joking around to distract from the severity of the situation. She was  definitely keeping  herself from losing her mind by talking about something else. She was just as panicky as our sister whether she cared to admit it or not.

“They’re trying to find her now, but we don’t know how well it’s going to go. If they can’t find her, we’ll just have to go on without her. I’m sorry to be the one who has to deliver this bad news to you... Vito and Prosecutor Burke are losing their minds in the other lobby,” Ms. Cruz frowned.

“I imagine... Even if Polly doesn’t get along very well with Niamh, she can’t go on with the trial unless we find her. That’s a huge problem for us all,” I murmured, shaking my head. “I have no idea what we’re going to do from here on out. There has to be some backup plan, but what could we do with it?”

“I’m not sure... I should get back to my brother soon. He just wanted me to tell you in case she didn’t show up. He’s trying to distract himself by preparing the other witness, one Prosecutor Yin, I think. If he can get her ready, he doesn’t need to think about his secondary witness going missing at the worst possible time,” Ms. Cruz told us with a small sigh. “I wish you luck in finding the truth.”

“We aren’t going to let this be used to deter us. We may be down one witness, but we’re going to free your cousin with or without her. Sure, having an extra testimony would be nice, but I don’t think she’s entirely required to find out the truth behind this case,” Chrysalis frowned. “Call me harsh for saying such about her, but we don’t really have any other options.”

“No, I understand... It’s a lot to deal with, especially at the last minute like this. We’re already busy with other things, and this case hasn’t been going well, but with a witness going missing out of the blue, it’s being made even harder,” Ms. Cruz said.

“We’ll just have to find a way around it. But Chrysalis is right. Even if we don’t have her testimony to listen to, we’ll just find another way to show that your cousin is innocent. We know she didn’t commit the crime, and we’ll be proving such loud and clear to the court, whether we have one witness or two,” I declared, hoping I sounded  more determined and sure  of myself than I was. I was sure I was going to see this case through to the end, but it was growing rather intense quickly, and it took more energy than you’d expect to hide the panic coursing through me at the speed of light.

“I trust you both. Good luck,” Ms. Cruz told us with a curt nod before turning on her heel and heading out of the room. When Ms. Giuseppe tried to follow her, she whispered something to her cousin, and the Italian girl stayed behind as Ms. Cruz left.

Chrysalis didn’t know what to say in this situation, and despite her eagerness to take care of the trial, she was too frazzled to think of using an online translator at a time like this. Instead of using a language to talk, she gave Ms. Giuseppe a smile and a thumbs-up to show that everything was going to be okay.

Ms. Giuseppe could still sense the fear and hesitation behind her smile, but she returned the gesture anyways. She opened her arms for a hug, and it pained me to know that she probably wasn’t aware of why everyone was panicking around her. She was trying to make things better but didn’t know what was going on or how to communicate with people in this different nation. I couldn’t even imagine how frightened she must have been.

“We’ll probably be called into the courtroom soon,” Chrysalis pointed out after she and Ms. Giuseppe had pulled away from a brief embrace. Even if they were no longer hugging, Chrysalis had decided to hold our client’s hand tightly as a silent way of attempting to calm her down. It seemed to have its intended effects, as Ms. Giuseppe’s shoulders were far less tense than they had been a few moments before.

“You’re right... But we can’t let this get us down. Is it going to make things harder? Yes. Will we give up because of this minor roadblock? No,” I said firmly.

“I can’t help but wonder what happened to her. She must have a reason for not showing up. She didn’t just oversleep. Sora would have gotten her up if that was the case  since  they live together. I’m even more suspicious by her phone instantly going to voicemail when people try to call her. That really makes me suspicious. I don’t want to imagine what’s going on with her right now, but I’m really hoping it all turns out okay,” Chrysalis told me. I could hear her voice shaking with nerves and uncertainty. 

“We’ll make sure that she’s found. On top of that, we’ll save Ms. Giuseppe. Today isn’t going to end badly. I promise. No matter what, we are going to come out on top. Don’t worry a bit,” I assured her, though judging by the doubt in her sapphire eyes, she didn’t believe me entirely.

A bailiff cried for us to enter the courtroom. Chrysalis led Ms. Giuseppe inside, and I followed them a few feet behind. I had been nervous waking up earlier in the day, but things had only gotten worse over time. I couldn’t do much aside from plead with the universe to have mercy, even if I highly doubted my prayers would be answered. Things didn’t ever go as planned for me, after all, and I didn’t think this would be an exception.

** April 23 **

** Courtroom  ** ** No. 4 **

** 10 ** ** : ** ** 00 ** **  AM **

** Cotoli Morix **

When we arrived in the courtroom, the first thing I came to notice was the silent, unspoken tension in the room. I looked at the prosecution and saw how irritated they both looked. They were hiding their anger behind a rather consistent poker face, but I could tell that they were ready to punch a wall. I frowned to myself. I guess they hadn’t had any luck in their own investigation after we had left the crime scene. I hadn’t expected them to make much progress, if I’m being perfectly honest, but it was still frustrating to know that so little evidence had been picked up.

Judge Frost, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be quite so bothered. I got the feeling he could tell everybody in the room was upset, but he was choosing not to say anything on the matter. “Court is back in session for the trial of Lira Giuseppe. Are the defense and prosecution ready?” he asked.

“The defense is ready,” I declared, one hand resting gently on the bench before me. I shot a brief glance to Chrysalis, wondering if she was prepared. She didn’t show me anything in her facial features, but her posture, which was tense but upright, told me she was as ready as it got.

“And the prosecution?” Judge Frost asked, looking over to the other side of the courtroom with a curious tilt of his head.

“The prosecution is also ready,” Prosecutor Cruz announced. He was wearing his sunglasses once again, an easy to tell sign that he was trying to hide his feelings from everyone in the room. I felt bad for him, but there wasn’t much of anything I could do to calm him here. Even if I could talk to him openly, it wouldn’t work out because he had a love for hiding his feelings. Nothing I could say would make him open up, and while it was painful to say that, I knew it was the truth.

“Now, Prosecutor Cruz, Prosecutor Burke, you should begin your summary of the investigation from this past day,” Judge Frost advised, setting his gavel down at last. He looked over to the prosecution with a curious gaze.

“We didn’t find anything,” Prosecutor Cruz began blankly. “To put it simply, the investigation wasn’t successful at all. We spoke with the witness mentioned at the end of the trial yesterday. She gave us a description of the killer, and it fit the theoretical culprit the defense proposed yesterday. However, we didn’t find anyone who fit the description, whether it was at the Prosecutor’s Office or not. It’s a problem, to say the least.”

“I see... Was there any other evidence found at the scene of the crime? I assume something went wrong given the issues everyone appeared to be having earlier today. I don’t know what could have happened, and I didn’t hear anything about the investigation up until just now,” Judge Frost frowned.

“We found a witness yesterday during the investigation. She saw the person mentioned by the witness we started talking about yesterday and gave us a description of the potential culprit. We were planning to have her testify today after our first witness, but she’s gone missing,” Polly sighed. “We did as much searching as we possibly could, but we couldn’t find her. As we speak, she’s being searched for, but we haven’t found anything yet that could point to where she is at present.”

“I see... If she winds up being found, we’ll need to talk to her. Do you think she’ll come to the courthouse once she is found?” Judge Frost asked, concern in his eyes. 

“She should come our way. We asked that she head to the courthouse after she was found. Well, we asked that the people searching for her would pass along the message,” Polly declared. I could hear the irritation behind her voice, and it made my heart skip a beat. She really didn’t get along with Prosecutor Wood for some reason, and while I longed to know why, I dared not to ask when she was already in a bad mood or in this setting.

“Who is looking for her, if you don’t mind my asking?” Judge Frost questioned. He was sensing Polly’s frustration just like I was, and he was trying to be careful so as not to frustrate her. He was making a wise choice in that respect. 

I knew Polly well enough to tell that she was close to snapping given the situation, and while I couldn’t blame her, I prayed that she kept her anger in for just a few hours longer.

“Her parents,” Polly answered, shaking her head. “Prosecutor Sora Lin is her mother while Chief Prosecutor Ghastly Bespoke is her father. They’re leading the search, but so far, they haven’t come across much of anything, I'm afraid. If they found something, we would already be aware of it.”

“I see... Well, in the meantime, I suppose all we can do is call the first witness of yours to the stand. There’s not a moment to lose in getting this trial started, even if the secondary witness has gone missing. Let’s go on,” Judge Frost instructed. He was hiding his concern regarding the disappearance of Prosecutor Wood rather  well,  I have to say.

“The prosecution calls Tora Yin to the witness stand,” Prosecutor Cruz declared, pointing at the podium after snapping to himself.

A few seconds later, Prosecutor Yin walked up to the stand. She had her arms crossed, and her eyebrows were knit tightly with worry. I could tell she was thinking about Prosecutor Wood now. She had always been the type to worry quietly about her family, and since they were both related to Sora, they were connected. Prosecutor Yin wasn’t going to say anything about it, but she didn’t have to. Her eyes told me everything I needed to know.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Judge Frost instructed with a kind yet stern gaze at Prosecutor Yin.

“My name is Tora Yin. I work as a prosecutor at the local Prosecutor’s Office,” Prosecutor Yin replied, though she refused to look up at Judge Frost as she spoke. “I also happened to see the man we suspect to be the culprit the day of the crime. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Now, please begin your testimony and tell us about what you saw, starting from the beginning when you first encountered the man. Leave out no details in your testimony,” Polly told him intensely. Her thoroughness was a way of distracting herself from the darkness of the situation. Work had always been the best way for her to keep herself busy, no matter what was going on around her.

“I’m on it,” Prosecutor Yin replied with a nod. She was standing so still, and it was rather concerning, I must say. I was concerned about her, and I wished we had Deirdre here for a moment. She could help to calm Prosecutor Yin and rid her of her anger. 

My heart ached dully at the thought of Deirdre. I still missed her, but we couldn’t do anything on the matter right now. For the time being, all we could do was finish up the trial. Ms. Giuseppe was counting on us, and we couldn’t abandon her now, no matter what other obligations we had.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ As I Walked Out ~ **

_ -“I went into the Prosecutor’s Office that morning to start off the day.” _

_ -“However, I had plans later on in the day, so I would have to leave early.” _

_ -“When I was leaving, I came across an odd man wearing a suit.” _

_ -“He had an attorney’s badge pinned to the collar of his jacket. His hair was brown.” _

_ -“He bumped into me, and he was rather rude when he did so, but I didn’t say anything about it.” _

_ -“I didn’t know who the man was, but I honestly thought he was visiting for a meeting of some sort.” _

_ -“Regardless, I don’t know who he was, but I suspect he may have been the killer.” _

_ -“I can’t think of any reason he’d be there at the office since, as far as I’m aware, nobody knows who he was.” _

“It seems like that lines up with the description we heard you had provided yesterday,” Judge Frost murmured, nodding to himself. “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

“Not really. I told you everything I thought was notable,” Prosecutor Yin shrugged. “If I had more to say, I would have said it in my testimony, but since there’s not anything, we can move on.”

“The defense is ready to begin its cross-examination,” I offered, a look of determination on my face. I already knew exactly what I was going to be asking her about when I got the chance to speak.

“In that case, go on and begin,” Prosecutor Cruz announced with a firm nod. 

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ As I Walked Out ~ **

_ - _ _ “I went into the Prosecutor’s Office that morning to start off the day.” _

_ - _ _ “However, I had plans later on in the day, so I would have to leave early.” _

_ - _ _ “When I was leaving, I came across an odd man wearing a suit.” _

_ - _ _ “He had an attorney’s badge pinned to the collar of his jacket. His hair was brown.” _

_ - _ _ “He bumped into me, and he was rather rude when he did so, but I didn’t say anything about it.” _

_ - _ _ “ _ _ I didn’t know who the man was, but I honestly thought he was visiting for a meeting of some sort.” _

_ - _ _ “Regardless, I don’t know who he was, but I suspect he may have been the killer.” _

_ - _ _ “I can’t think of any reason he’d be there at the office since, as far as I’m aware, nobody knows who he was.” _

“Hold it!”

“Nobody knew who he was?” I echoed. I hadn’t heard about this part up until just now. It had to be a recent development given that Prosecutor Yin hadn’t mentioned this yesterday while we were still investigating. If it was recent, I wondered why I hadn’t heard about it, but at least I knew about it now. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about it from here, but I would have to figure out something, even if I had to bluff my way through it.

“No, I’m afraid not. I didn’t hear the news until the end of the day, after I got home. I got a text from Sora, and she told me that she had heard from Chief Prosecutor Bespoke who heard from Prosecutor Cruz that nobody knew the man I described. He was trying to see if anyone had summoned him to commit the killing, but at the end of the day, it was revealed that he was working alone. I feel like that aligns with your original assumptions that he came to the office just to kill the victim,” Prosecutor Yin replied.

“Hm... Even if that does align with our suspicions, I somehow doubt that this is going to be the piece of testimony that breaks through the barrier we’ve been stuck at since the end of yesterday’s trial,” Chrysalis frowned. “If you ask me, we just have to face the facts. No witness is going to be able to help us finish up this case. What we need now is hard evidence. Either that, or we need the killer we’ve put together a picture of. Either way, we’re not going to be finding the truth easily.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point there. We need one last piece of evidence to show us who did it. From there, we can drag him inside, but without that...” My voice trailed off as I looked at Ms. Giuseppe. She didn’t seem to be able to understand what was going on, just watching with a content expression.

“We’re talking casually, so she thinks it’s okay, but she doesn’t know what we’re talking about,” Chrysalis said, realizing that I was looking at our client. “We’re going to get her out of here. Don’t worry too much.”

I nodded at her words, though she could tell I wasn’t in it fully. Either way, I focused back on the trial at hand, frowning to myself. “Alright. Let’s look at this another way now. I don’t know how we’re supposed to find the killer, but we’re going to figure it out. Prosecutor Yin, is there anything else you noticed about the man when you ran into him? Any small details will help us out a lot,” I said.

“I already told you about everything I know. Unless you want to hear about how tall he is, how he would easily overpower anyone smaller than him, how he was the same size as the victim...” Prosecutor Yin began. “Well, there was one other thing. I forgot to mention this sooner, but I think you already knew this before I came to testify.”

“What would that be?” I asked. Even if she thought we already knew the truth, that didn’t matter to me. I wanted to hear everything she had to say, even if it was a repeat of something we had already heard. I doubted this would be any large breakthrough, or even a small breakthrough, but testimony was testimony, and that was all I needed at this point.

“He was wearing gloves when I saw him,” Prosecutor Yin told me. “I didn’t know what the reason for that was at the time. Sometimes, people just want to wear gloves, so I figured it was rather normal. If I had known that he was wearing them to hide his fingerprints so he could commit a crime... Let’s just say things would have turned out differently.”

“I see... Well, I’m glad to hear everything you’ve told us today. Even if we already knew most of this, it’s good to have official confirmation on the matter. It’s best to hear the words straight from you as opposed to being passed on from other people,” I said to Prosecutor Yin warmly. I smiled to her and nodded in her direction. “Thank you for all your help. I’m glad you decided to assist us.”

“It’s no problem. I assume you might want to hear more from me on the matter of the man, right?” Prosecutor Yin asked. “I mean, it’s not like there’s anything else we can do right now.”

Prosecutor Cruz opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by a ringing sound. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“Don’t answer your phone during a trial!” Judge Frost exclaimed in shock. “That’s--”

“It’s the search team that was looking for the other witness,” Prosecutor Cruz cut in. “They must have found a clue relating to where she went.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday so big yeet I'm the big one seven now
> 
> -Digital


	30. Turnabout Betrayal, Part 10

** April 23 **

** Courtroom No. 4 **

** 10:45 AM **

** Cotoli Morix **

Prosecutor Cruz answered his phone and began to speak into it. “Hello?” he asked. I couldn’t tell what he was hearing, and it was hard to estimate since his sunglasses were covering his eyes so well. 

I shot a brief glance to Chrysalis. She swallowed nervously but didn’t say a word. I could tell she was just as nervous as I was about what was going on. I took her hand and squeezed it as we waited for Prosecutor Cruz to tell us about what he had heard on this phone call.

“What?!” Prosecutor Cruz yelled suddenly. It was so out of the blue that I nearly jumped out of my own skin. My heart pounded in my chest, and one hand instinctively went up to feel my heart beating. God, that had scared me. What in the world could have surprised him enough to make him start yelling like that?

“I’m kind of scared all of a sudden,” Chrysalis whispered to me, worry in her eyes. “I want to know what he could have heard that would freak him out so much.”

“Let’s just... Hold off on making any other assumptions for now. I’m sure he’ll tell us when he’s ready to say something,” I told her. It was my way of calming both her and me down from any further panic. Sudden yelling was one way to easily freak us both out, and this was no exception to the regular rule.

We didn’t say anything for a few minutes while Prosecutor Cruz was busy on the phone. I glanced all around the courtroom, though I looked to Ms. Giuseppe first. She was clearly confused but was doing her best to hide it. I could see fear in her eyes as well, and I longed to comfort her despite not being able to due to what was going on.

Judge Frost was the next one to earn my focus. He was looking at Prosecutor Cruz with concern and worry. I got the feeling he would have spoken up to say something if he wasn’t expected to be quiet to allow Prosecutor Cruz to finish his phone call. 

Prosecutor Yin wasn’t doing much aside from staring off into space. She was looking at the witness stand before her, but her gaze was glassy and distant. Given her relationship to Sora, and from there, her relationship to Prosecutor Wood, she was most certainly worried at the knowledge that the search party had found something.

Polly was looking at Prosecutor Cruz with a heavy frown. She was doing her best to listen in on the conversation he was having with whoever was on the other end of the call, but judging by her deep frown, she wasn’t having any luck.

Finally, I shot a brief glance to Ms. Cruz. She was looking at her brother solemnly, though she kept looking back and forth between him and Ms. Giuseppe every few seconds. She was struggling to stay still from her place at the witness preparation bench near the prosecution.

Prosecutor Cruz hung up slowly, and he swallowed dryly. He set his phone down on the prosecution bench before speaking slowly. “They didn’t find the witness, but they did find something else,” he said quietly. There was an unspoken, tense anger behind his words that sent a shiver up my spine. “They found... A body. A murder has taken place at the Prosecutor’s Office.”

I knew my face was going pale without even needing to check. I looked slowly to Chrysalis, my heart beating faster from panic. Who had died? Who could have hurt them? Was this incident related to the murder that we were investigating as it was?

“The victim... The victim is a defense attorney by the name of  Cormous  Arme,” Prosecutor Cruz murmured. “He was found stabbed in the back in a room on the bottom floor of the Prosecutor’s Office...”

“ Cormous ?!” I yelped in surprise. He couldn’t be serious, right? Our  Cormous  Arme? The one who had been working at our agency up until the Emsthorpe incident? He was dead?

“I... I can’t believe it...” Chrysalis murmured. She looked up at me in fear, her fingers moving over to mine to hold them tightly. “He... He can’t really be dead, right...?”

“I... I believe this trial is as good as over... I highly doubt these incidents are isolated. They must be connected... But we can’t investigate the other case without adjourning the court for a brief period...” 

“We can’t find the killer of that case without calling it today... And given that we’ve had two murders in the Prosecutor’s Office in under three days, they must be related. Nothing happens that close in both time and location that isn’t related, especially if that subject is related to murder,” Prosecutor Yin muttered. “We have to see what’s going on.”

“But we can’t just let the killer get away! Even if another murder took place there, we can’t just leave the victim out to dry like this! A more recent crime doesn’t erase the previous one!” Prosecutor Cruz shouted. “What about the case that we’re looking into right now?!”

“If these two cases really are connected, they might have the same culprit. If the culprit is the same, we can get them in prison for going against two different people. How does that sound?” Prosecutor Yin pointed out.

Seeing he wasn’t going to be winning this argument, Prosecutor Cruz let out a hefty sigh. He shook his head bitterly, looking ready to begin swearing openly. However, he didn’t say anything about fighting the general consensus, instead frowning to himself. “I... I understand,” he murmured, shaking his head.

“We should go on and end this for now... We have business to take care of. This new case  has to  be connected to the previous one. It’s time for you all to begin investigating. We need to find the killer,” Judge Frost announced. “Are there any objections to ending this trial here?”

Nobody said anything. I looked to Chrysalis, though I knew she wasn’t going to speak out against the idea. She stared down at her hands, which were resting dormant on the bench in front of us. I wasn’t even sure if she was paying attention to what was going on, and even if she wasn’t, I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t know how to function myself in light of this new information.

“In that case, allow me to declare that court is adjourned for today...  In light of  the newest crime that has taken place at the Prosecutor’s Office, we are going to be investigating what has happened. The culprit may be the same, and since we have so few leads, we must take this as our primary chance to find out who did it,” Judge Frost continued, realizing nobody had any plans of responding to him. “Court is adjourned!”

He lifted his gavel and slammed it down on the podium before him. The second it hit the  wood,  chatter echoed throughout the courtroom. I heard none of it, instead silently packing up my evidence and making my way towards the door. Chrysalis followed me, not daring to say a word to me or anyone else. I saw others start to evacuate the courtroom as well, but I didn’t remark on it until after we got back into the defendant lobby. 

I mean, it was hard to comment on it when you had no idea what to say. 

** April 23 **

** Defendant Lobby No. 4 **

** 11:00 AM **

** Cotoli Morix **

When I got out to the defendant lobby, I was met with a few familiar faces I truly didn’t expect to see here. I let out a gasp upon realizing I was looking at Lily, Deirdre, and Yuri. “Hey... What are you three doing here?” I asked, trying my hardest to remain casual. I didn’t want to unsettle them at all, but at the same time, if had to talk to them. I mean, I had unofficially fired them, and after that, we had lost somebody who was involved with our agency. A lot had happened since the last time I had seen them.

“How are you doing?” Lily asked gently, ignoring my question completely. As I looked at her, my blue eyes staring into her brown ones, I realized that if she and the other did happen to hold a grudge, they were putting it aside for right now because we had lost Cormous.

I shrugged. “I suppose I’m doing fine,” I said simply, unsure as to what else I was supposed to say. I couldn’t crack under the pressure when they were counting on me to be strong. Something awful had happened, but I couldn’t let it get to me when they were counting on me to remain as strong as I could. It hurt me inside that I couldn’t show how I was feeling, but there wasn’t any time for me to let my emotions out given that we were about to be launched straight into another investigation.

“We’re here because we want to help you out. We heard you were involving yourself in a new trial, and we all decided individually to come. It wasn’t a group effort, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Yuri finally told me to answer my question. “It’s... We wanted to know what had happened, and so we came, and judging by what’s been going on... It seems like you haven’t been doing all that well recently.”

“No... Not exactly. We haven’t really been planning on doing much of anything... This case took place somewhat randomly, and we hopped on it because we thought we could do something. It was an improvised decision,” Chrysalis cut in with a small shrug. “I... I guess something did happen because we took on this case though. If word got out that we were working on the murder, then...”

“Don’t think about it like that. I’m not going to let you blame yourself, since I know that’s where this is going. I know the way you work,” Yuri frowned with a shake of her head. “You’re thinking that because you started looking into this case,  Cormous  tried to see what was going on down at the Prosecutor’s Office. Because he went there, he was killed... You can’t blame yourself for something like this. You couldn’t have known what would have happened. Nobody could have figured it out ahead of time.”

“Still, I can’t help it... We took on this case, and so soon after,  Cormous  died. There’s no way that these two incidents weren’t related. I’m not sure what to do about it aside from feel horrible. What else can we do?  Cormous  went there because we had been working on this case. If we hadn’t started this case, he wouldn’t have gotten involved. Now, he’s dead. I know that we couldn’t have been aware of what was going to happen, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s dead now. Whether we were aware or not, it feels like the weight of his life is on our shoulders,” Chrysalis murmured. I could see something glassy over her eyes, and I somehow doubted this dull sheen was caused by her glasses.

“Okay... Hm... Let’s go on down to the Prosecutor’s Office and figure out what was going on while we were in here. If we can determine what happened while we were in the trial, then we should be able to find out how he died and who did it. The two incidents must have been related, which means that we can probably carry over some clues from this case over to his...” I said, trying to sound more confident than I really felt I was.

“If the four of us, as in me, Deirdre, Yuri, and Cormous, got involved with this case, I think the chances are pretty good that Victoria got wrapped up in this as well,” Lily declared.  “I just don’t know where she could possibly be. I didn’t see her while we were sitting up in the gallery... That’s how we all found each other. We came individually to watch the trial, but we wound up spotting one another, so we came together to see what was going on.”

“I see... Well, we didn’t see Victoria either. I mean, we didn’t even get the chance to look for any of you three since we didn’t know you were coming. We were focused on dealing with the case at hand, since as I’m sure you’ve noticed, it hasn’t been going well,” I laughed somewhat bitterly. Well, now, it was more accurate to say that the case hadn’t gone well. As in speaking of it in past tense. The case was over now that something else had happened at the Prosecutor’s Office. I wasn’t sure about if it would be reopened, assuming it ever was. How could I know for sure when everything seemed to be a mess?

“I don’t understand why any of this had to happen... I must agree with your sentiment that this case is related to the one you two were just investigating. I don’t see how the two incidents could possibly be separate. It’s just... It’s too much of a coincidence. You know?” Yuri asked with a frown. “I wish it didn’t have to end like this...  Cormous  is dead now, and there’s nothing we can do about it at this point but figure out who did it. The problem is going to be finding the culprit when we barely have anything to go off.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t here for the first day of the trial, but as far as I can tell, the case had minimal evidence. Was there anything official that pointed to the innocence of the defendant in the first place?” Deirdre asked, speaking up at long last.

I let out a gasp before looking to Chrysalis. She seemed to have realized the same thing I had. Ms. Giuseppe was never officially declared guilty or innocent, meaning her fate was up in the air. Granted, I couldn’t blame Judge Frost for being frazzled and not remembering to officially say something since we had just heard that another murder had taken place, but it still wasn’t good. I didn’t see her anywhere in the defendant lobby either, which wasn’t a good sign. 

“We should go and see Prosecutor Cruz,” Chrysalis finally advised. “If anyone is going to know about what’s to happen to her, I feel like it would be him. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions by saying such a thing, but it’s my only idea... Do you have any other things for us to do while we’re still here?”

“No... Not at all. Prosecutor Cruz should be our first priority,” I agreed with a firm nod. “We should go and see him. Yuri, Lily, Deirdre... I’m afraid we’ll have to go before we can finish this conversation right now. Please do try to—”

Yuri gasped when her phone let out a brief ring. She pulled it from her pocket and tapped on the screen briefly. “And that’s a notification... What does it mean?” she murmured, continuing to tap on the device. She had tuned the rest of us out already, and it had only been a few seconds. 

“What’s going on?” I asked, curious as to what she could have found. All thoughts of talking about me going to speak with Prosecutor Cruz had been forgotten instantly now that Yuri had pulled out her phone. I tried to peer over her shoulder to see what it was that had her so curious.

Yuri suddenly let out a sharp gasp. “It seems like they’ve already arrested a suspect in this case too!” she exclaimed, starting to tap more furiously. She scrolled down, and when she finally reached the segment of the  article  she was reading that she wanted, she gasped again. Her features all grew paler, and I saw her stomach turn into a knot just by her facial expression. “Please tell me this isn’t real...”

“What’s going on?” I asked, already feeling my heart beat a bit faster. I had a bad feeling about this though I didn’t know who the suspect was.

“The defendant... It’s somebody that we know, and that means that  not a single one  of you is going to like this. I think we have ourselves a case for sure based just off who the suspect is,” Yuri said.

“Stop dancing around it and just tell us!” Lily cried, her voice showing how agitated she was. I could see her growing pale too, but she hadn’t even seen who the defendant was. The way Yuri was talking was clearly scaring her, and for her sake, I wanted to hear who we would be defending.

“It’s Victoria,” Yuri finally spat out. “She’s the one who’s been suspected of this crime. She was chosen as a suspect because she was the one who found the crime scene. The method of his murder isn’t mentioned here, but... She was there, and that’s exactly why she was found to be suspicious.”

“ Of course  she’s involved... If the rest of us are here, then we should have expected it. I mean, we did, but we didn’t think it would come to this... I really don’t know what to do now. It’s ridiculous.  Cormous  is dead, Victoria is the suspect, and the five of us are going to have to get them out of this trouble,” Chrysalis murmured bitterly. She was clearly upset and angry, but she was hiding it to the best of her ability. However, since I knew her better than most people, I could tell how irritated she was.

“I think we should get down there as soon as possible. We can’t waste a moment when the investigation is ready to start. Plus, we still need to find Prosecutor Wood. She’s the witness who went missing, if I recall correctly,” Deirdre remarked, placing one hand on her chin.

“You’re right. If she still hasn’t been found, it’s probably a safe bet to make that she’s involved with the case. I mean, she must have been in the Prosecutor’s Office at the time. I can’t imagine she would be anywhere else,” Yuri frowned. “I want to know the truth behind what happened her. She would have had to have a reason for going off to do something. Going to a trial is rather important, and if she wanted to skip out on it to do something else, she must have had a reason. I just hope for her sake that it’s a good one, because if not, I know a lot of people will want to have her head.”

“In that case, we should go out and find her... I can’t think of anything else for us to do at this point,” Lily suggested, shrugging. “We don’t have much of a reason to stick around here at this point. I mean, the trial is over, and there’s no way that it’s going to be continuing anytime soon. Why bother hanging out here when it’s not going to help us out in the slightest with the older case or the newer one?”

“Yeah... Let’s just go and get this over with. That sounds like a great idea,” Chrysalis murmured. “But I don’t know if we should all stay together. After all, there’s one elephant in the room that we have failed to address since we started to talk about this case, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to go on acting like it doesn’t exist.”

I didn’t need to ask her about it to know exactly what she meant. I looked down at my feet, shaking my head gently. “I see... You make a good point. We need to address this before it gets to be out of control. Are there any objections to changing the subject?” I asked. Despite talking like a judge to lighten the mood, I could tell that nobody else was taking it as something humorous. In fact, I was barely feeling better after putting that phrase out there.

Nobody spoke up either, so I knew it was time to move on. Even if they didn’t want to talk about it, I would have changed the subject anyways. This was something that needed to be discussed whether we wanted to talk about it or not. 

I took in a deep breath before finally letting the words out. “We’ve been thinking a lot about the traitor description since the case with the  Emsthorpes ’ leader. However, we haven’t come to any conclusions on the matter yet, and nothing has come to mind regarding who it would be... Just know that if it’s one of you three, I am incredibly disappointed in you all. Very disappointed.”

I knew that if one of them was a criminal mastermind, this disappointment talk wasn’t going to help anything. But, at the same time, I needed to get it off my chest. I had been thinking about it far too much lately, and I needed to  actually say  how I felt after holding it on for what felt like a million years. It felt good to finally say, but I still felt like screaming or losing my mind thinking that one of them might betray us after all this time.

“Why are you giving us the talk when we’re about to help you find the killer behind this case?” Yuri asked. “Besides, you know us all well. You wouldn’t have hired us if you didn’t think we were trustworthy. Maybe it was just something fake the Emsthorpes’ leader said as a way of getting us to trip up. He probably saw us as a threat and wanted to destroy us from the inside with the mere implication of something going wrong.”

“I think the possibility is there, but I don’t want to take any chances either. Can we really risk putting ourselves in danger like this? I don’t think we can,” Chrysalis frowned. Despite saying it like she was referring to the  group as a whole, it  was clear to me that she was only talking about the two of us since we were major players in the production of the Oracle project. If we wanted things to get better, we couldn’t let anything bad happen to either one of us. The city was unstable enough as it was, and we couldn’t allow the system to  deteriorate  further.

“I think that no matter what the truth is, we’ll need to be careful. Whether the traitor is here or not, we still  have to  be cautious. We can’t take many risks at this point, especially considering that we’ve already lost so much while trying to get to this point. Somehow, I get the feeling that this case is going to involve the traitor, and perhaps their  true identity  will come to light after all this time. If that is true, then perhaps we should get into the case but just keep our distance from any official issues,” I suggested.

“If this case is going to reveal the  true identity  of the traitor, then... We can’t be too confident. Stepping outside the box is a bad idea when it could result in our untimely demises. If they reveal themselves, then we’re going to be able to call this issue good and finish it off once and for all,” Chrysalis suggested, crossing her arms. 

I had a feeling I knew exactly why she was so ready for this case. If we could weed out the traitor, we would be able to bring everybody else back. If we were on the case and searching for the culprit, we’d be able to find the traitor easily since we’d have the jurisdiction needed to find that information. It was her way of saying that she was going to find the traitor without actually saying it out loud.

“Promise me that you believe in me. I’m not the traitor,” Lily said firmly. 

My fingers went to the magatama in my pocket. I rubbed at its smooth surface gently, and when I was finished touching it, I found that she was telling the truth. No Locks came into view loudly, and that was a perfect indicator that she wasn’t going to turn on us. Checking for Psyche-Locks wasn’t exactly a foolproof method of seeing if somebody was lying since some people could get around them, but it was a start. The sincerity in Lily’s eyes was something that I didn’t believe could be faked either, so I allowed myself to believe her, even if it was just a little bit.

“Me too!” Yuri chirped. “You know me really well by now. I understand your caution, but you’ve known me for years. Besides, when we met, I was twelve. Would I really decide to sell you out when I was that young? I wouldn’t turn on you guys now either. I’m not a horrible person like that, you know.”

I let out a small chuckle as I continued to rub the magatama. No Psyche-Locks appeared this time either. I  have to  admit, I suspected that. Yuri was probably the least suspicious person in the group as far as turning on us simply because we had known her for so long. Plus, she was the youngest of us all, and turning against us didn’t seem like somebody as young as her would do. I’m not trying to treat her like a child, but I don’t know if she’s got that in her.

“You can count on me as well. I won’t do a thing to turn against you, whether it’s now or some other time in the future. That’s a promise. You have done so much for me in my time at the agency, and I refuse to turn against you after all that has been done to help me,” Deirdre said next. There was a small smile on her face, but I could tell that she was sincere and serious as could be. “I won’t turn against you after all of this. That would be downright inhumane after the kind way that you all have been treating me.”

I did one last brush against the magatama. Once again, just like the other two times, nothing happened. I felt relief flood my body. I hadn’t tried this before since I was too freaked out to get anywhere near them, but now, I was much calmer and found that I could  actually do  such a thing. 

This left Victoria and  Cormous , and I didn’t think that Victoria would be able to answer us until after we went to the detention center now that she had been arrested for the crime. As for  Cormous , we couldn’t ask him unless we decided to channel his spirit. Without the power of channeling, we wouldn’t be able to do anything to talk to him. That realization hit hard, and I swallowed nervously  at the  thought.

“We should probably head over to the Prosecutor’s Office now,” Chrysalis suggested. “We don’t have any time to waste.” 

Nobody objected, but we walked away from the defendant lobby silently to head off towards the office, afraid of what was awaiting us but going towards it anyways.

** April 23 **

** Unknown Place **

** Unknown Time **

** Unknown Perspective **

I stood alone in my apartment, having just stopped pacing a few seconds ago. I found myself flopping onto the couch, placing my face in my hands. This was bad. She wasn’t around anymore. She couldn’t be around in this situation, and that made me feel horrible. It felt like everything was crashing down. She had just gone off for  a brief moment  earlier on in the day, and now, everything was wrong.

I shook my head slowly as the news prattled on in the background. I looked up to the TV, but I wasn’t really seeing anything on the surface of the screen. I knew that something was happening, but I couldn’t tell at all what it was. I figured it had something to do with the incident that had taken her away from me to begin with, but I didn’t want to hear about it at all.

I found my gaze going to the door. I watched it silently, but I didn’t find what I was looking for. I was hoping that she would walk in any moment now, but I knew that she wouldn’t. It was just habit at this point to watch and wait for her after she went off to see a trial or participate in one. I wanted her to be able to come inside, but I knew that wasn’t possible. However, I still watched like there was nothing else in the world but that door.

I almost got to my feet to go out and see her, but I found myself stopping. If the lawyers on this case were the ones that she had been working with up to this point, then I couldn’t go and see her without being spotted. I couldn’t let them see me. There was no way I could face them, especially in this situation when everything was going wrong as it was.

There was no way of judging when I’d be able to see her, and it made my stomach turn into a knot. She would have to deal with this on her own unless I could find a perfect moment to sneak in. I couldn’t risk running into the people that she had been working with. That would make everything go downhill horribly. 

I took in a deep breath before letting out a shaky sigh. My face fell into my hands again as I stared down hopelessly. I felt horrible for not being able to see her, and the thought that she would have to power through this without my support made me feel sick, even if there was  nothing  I could do about it. “Victoria... I’m sorry.” 

** TURNABOUT BETRAYAL **

** END **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is coming early since I'll be out of town next week
> 
> Also what a twist!
> 
> -Digital


	31. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 1

_ Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. _

“You wouldn’t show me the location of the evidence... And now, everything will go up in flames because of you.”

_ “Not if I have anything to say about it...!” _

“May you all burn in the fires of--”

_ “Forget it, idiot... May you burn in the fires of hell. Not on my damn watch, dastard.” _

_ Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, to-- _

_ “No more of that... Never again that.” _

** April 23 **

** Prosecutor’s Office **

** 1: ** ** 0 ** ** 5 AM **

** Yuri Rinko **

When we got to the Prosecutor’s Office, I couldn’t even begin to count how many police officers there were scattered around. They were all focusing on investigating, meaning none of them really cared much for what we were doing. After we showed off our badges (I say our when I really mean Mr.  Morix  and Lily showed their badges), we were able to get in without any issues. 

We didn’t have to go far to look at the crime scene, to say the least. In fact, as soon as we walked in, it was right there. The lobby of the office was exactly our destination, and in my opinion, that only freaked me out more.  A murder had happened so close to the door, so close to the outside world. Mere feet away from escape, somebody had tracked down Cormous to strike him down without any remorse at all. It was a chore to keep my heart from pounding louder than a jet engine in my ears.

I followed Mr.  Morix  to the back area of the lobby. At the entrance of the Prosecutor’s Office, there was a set of stairs once you got through the security room. The large staircase took up most of the room and hid everything that was behind it. There was an elevator on the side of the room, which was the preferred method of transportation for most of the people who passed through the office, but it was far less grand than the staircase.

Mr.  Morix  led us around the back of the staircase. That was where the police seemed to be centered. Sure enough, that was where the body was centered.  Cormous  was lying face down on the ground, absolutely covered in his own blood. There was one weapon that had been used as far as I could tell, and it was a small cube. The cause of death had  definitely been  blunt force trauma to the back of the head. The killer didn’t hold back or anything either, as nobody who was holding back would have caused this much bloodshed. I felt like I was going to throw up the longer I stared at the corpse.

“The cube’s corner got into the back of his head, and it was swung hard enough to kill him instantly,” Chrysalis remarked. “At the very least, that’s what I suspect happened. It must have been the corner that got the hit in to cause this much bloodshed... Though I can’t really say for sure who did it.”

“The hit was to the base of his neck,” Deirdre murmured. “That’s where the blood appears to be centered.”

“Wait... I just realized something,” Mr.  Morix  suddenly told us. “There are cuts in the back of his jacket. It looks like he was stabbed multiple times. That would explain how much blood there is. Whoever the killer was didn’t bother to hold back.”

“Stab wounds and blunt force trauma... I wonder which one could have actually killed him,” I frowned with a small shake of my head.

“You know, something about this cube is rather strange... I can’t really put a finger on it, but I think something is going on with it,” Lily said softly, crouching down to pick up the cube.

“Hey! Don’t touch that cube!”

Two people appeared from the crowd of police officers, and Lily shrieked as they came into view. She jumped away from the cube, hands in the air to show that she wasn’t touching it anymore. In her panic, Lily didn’t realize that the two people who had just appeared were familiar faces she knew well.

“Detective Erikson!  Mukuro !” Chrysalis  gasped,  her eyes wide. “What brings you two here? Are you the leading detectives on this case?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. We were in the area looking around for evidence regarding the other case. We were called in by Detective Wattson to look around and see what we could get for her while she was doing other things. When the body was found, we were able to get here quickly, and in the end, we were assigned to the case,” Mukuro explained, a small smile on her face.

“I see... Well, I’m glad that you’re the ones on this case as opposed to other people that we don’t know or get along with as well. The last case, the other murder here at the Prosecutor’s Office, was a bit of a mess... The defendant was arrested for not speaking English very well. She was from Italy, and the police were afraid of her not understanding their language. Pathetic creatures, really,” Chrysalis remarked, shrugging to herself.

“I think it’s ridiculous as well. Everybody deserves a fair chance. That’s why we’re here, as a matter of fact. We want the defendant to have a chance in the trial when it starts tomorrow, so we’re going to help you out as much as we can,” Mukuro went on.

“Tomorrow?!” I shrieked in surprise. “You can’t be serious! We’re coming off the heels of another murder here in the Prosecutor’s Office, and they really want us to take this off to court tomorrow?!”

“I don’t like it either. However, we don’t really have much of a say in the matter. We’re just here to help you out with the investigation as much as we can,” Detective Erikson responded, considerably calmer than  Mukuro  was. 

“Damn... Looks like we’re going to need to get busy then,” Deirdre said with a frown. “If we all stay together, we’re not going to be getting much done. How about we divide and conquer? We can pair off or go alone to look around and accomplish different things.”

“I think Chrysalis and I will keep on looking into the previous case. It was never fully solved, and since they were back to back, there must be some connection. There’s no way they’re completely unrelated given that they were mere days apart in the same building. We should figure out the full truth behind that and hope it helps us propel towards the truth of this case. There’s no guarantee, but it might do something,” Mr.  Morix  said. “There have to be some clues around here somewhere... And if they are here, we’re going to find them.”

“I’m going to go and see Victoria in the detention center. We can all meet up with her at the end of the investigation, but I think I have a few questions for her on the matter of what happened at the time of the crime. I can’t say for sure how this will go, but at the same time, this is a good place to start,” Deirdre remarked.

“In that case, Yuri and I will stay here to look around the Prosecutor’s Office for this case. We can talk to any witnesses and check out the body. How does that sound for groups to split up?” Lily asked.

“Sounds good to me,” I cut in with a nod. “We can meet up in three hours or so at the detention center. Are we all in agreement?”

The others in the group responded with small yet firm nods. Deirdre was the first one to leave, turning on one heel to head for the door. Chrysalis and Mr.  Morix  turned to head for the elevator to go up to the previous crime scene. Finally, Lily and I remained where we were, ready to start investigating the newer case at hand.

I started by turning towards  Mukuro  and Detective Erikson. “So... What’s the deal with the weird cube thing we weren’t supposed to be touching?” I asked, pointing down at the black cube. I couldn’t see anything fishy with it aside from the blood that was staining its surface heavily. “It doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong with it... Is there something going on inside of the thing that we can’t see?”

“Well... That cube is kind of a pocket bomb,”  Mukuro  explained, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Since we’re a bit worried about somebody messing it up and making it... Well... Explode... We aren’t letting anybody touch it. It was disarmed by the bomb squad, but we’re still worried about something going wrong with it. Sorry to yell at you earlier. I know you didn’t know, but...”

“And you should have yelled at us! That thing is a bomb?!” I shrieked, scrambling to get as far away from the ominous black cube as I possibly could. “We have to get rid of it! Now!”

“The bomb has been disarmed now. Don’t worry about it,” Mukuro assured her. “However, it’s also important evidence, so... We just need people to not touch it. Don’t be offended. You had no way of knowing.”

“You both seem surprisingly calm for talking about a bomb that was planted in the Prosecutor’s Office,” Lily frowned, shaking her head. “I would never be able to relax like that if I knew something like that was  happening ...”

“It’s not easy to relax here, but we were there when it was taken apart, so it’s a bit easier to chill out,” Mukuro shrugged. “I know that probably doesn’t ease your fears much at all, but it’s something to keep in mind.”

“So... Can we have the details on this bomb?” Lily asked. “Why is it here? How is it set up? Who could have possibly tried to plant it here?”

“Well... We have one of those questions answered. It’s set up to detonate by remote. As for the other two, it’s  pretty easy  to guess why it was here. Somebody tried to blow up the office for some reason or another, but I have no idea why anybody would want to. There’s no evidence of a motive right now since we don’t know who brought it,” Detective Erikson replied. “There was one set of fingerprints found on its surface, but nothing else could be lifted from it. We’re still getting them tested to see who they belong to.”

“Somebody tried to blow up the Prosecutor’s Office, and the bomb was found at the scene of a murder... These incidents can’t be unrelated. There has to be a reason that the bomb was found here, not working, right next to a dead body of somebody who doesn’t have much of anything to do with the office itself...” I murmured with a small frown. 

“We think that they’re related as well, but there isn’t much for us to go off  at the moment . Without any true evidence for us to reflect upon, we can’t really use anything to figure out the reasoning for why the bomb is here or who dropped it off,” Detective Erikson said. 

“Was the bomb functioning when you found it?” Lily asked.

“No, it wasn’t. The bomb was horribly destroyed from the inside when we found it. You can’t really see it at a first glance, but a knife was used in this crime. The knife stabbed into the victim’s back, and after that, it was used to cut the bomb’s contents into tiny pieces. We’re not just talking about disarming it. It was destroyed from the inside out. Afterwards, the knife was shoved underneath the body, and the bomb’s door was shut to make it look like nothing was wrong. If I had to guess, it was already messed up when the knife was used due to the hit it was used to deal,” Detective Erikson explained. 

I blinked at him and shook my head. “Okay. You lost me. Can you start from the top with what you think happened?” I questioned.

“Of course. We’re still waiting on the autopsy report, but the victim was killed by one of two things. He was stabbed in the back many times by a small knife and hit at the base of the neck by the corner of the bomb.  Both of them  caused immense blood loss. When the police arrived at the scene, he was already dead. You’ll have to ask the people who were in the area at the time of the murder for details regarding what the witnesses saw, but that’s what happened when he was killed,” Detective Erikson explained to us.

“There were also traces of blood found on the inside of the bomb. The blood belongs to the victim as far as we can tell. This makes it clear that the victim was killed before the bomb was cut from the inside out. The same knife was used to prove that this is the case. The dagger found beneath the body of the victim was small enough to get into the bomb, and it seems to match up in size with the injuries dealt to his back,”  Mukuro  went on. “You should ask the witnesses in this case what they saw at the time of the crime.”

“How many witnesses are there?” Lily asked.

“There’s one I can think of off the top of my head. The previous case had one Elec  Daegana  as a crucial witness, but he wasn’t at the trial earlier today for that case. That was because he was here,”  Mukuro  replied. “He was the one who found the defendant at the crime scene with the victim’s dead body. That’s the reason for the suspicion surrounding the defendant. She wasn’t found with any weapons, but she was at the scene of the crime when it was discovered.”

“I see... As much as I hate to admit it, that sounds like a sound reason from the police. Of course, it’s a bit narrow-minded of them since she could have easily just found the scene, but I guess it’s something,” I sighed. “At least they’re doing their jobs well right now instead of just arresting teenagers for not speaking English at a crime scene.”

“There’s no idea of a motive  at the moment  to connect them. However, I get the feeling that something is going to be dug up at some point sooner or later to connect the defendant with the victim,” Detective Erikson said. “Speaking of... He worked at your agency, didn’t you?”

I looked to Lily before nodding. “Yes... He did. If I had to guess, that’s going to be what the police pull from to try and pin this on Victoria. Let’s just say that our agency hasn’t really been in the most stable position as of late regarding trust. If the police hear about this, then they’re going to accuse her of killing him for that reason,” I responded.

“I’d like to hear about that, if you don’t mind,”  Mukuro  frowned. “I mean, I feel like I already know what it’s about since I was there for my father’s trial, but I think I would like some extra details, if you don’t mind my asking for it.”

“We found out there was a traitor in our agency a few weeks away. That’s the reason that our agency kind of fell apart recently. There wasn’t much of anything for us to do about it. I mean, with the possibility that a traitor was among our ranks, nobody wanted to involve themselves with the other. Even now, our interactions are uneasy and heavy, to put it nicely,” Lily explained, cringing slightly at the thought. “Those are the basics behind it, at the very least. I’ll let you decide what you want to do with that information, but I feel like it’s going to lead to a potential motive for Victoria.”

“If she thought that  Cormous  was the traitor, then she might have a reason to lash out and try to kill him,” I murmured with a shake of our head. “I hate to say such about this case, but I can’t believe that it’s true... I thought Victoria was genuine. I don’t want to think that she has a motive, but I know that it’s the case. I don’t know. Everything is complicated, and honestly, I want to slam my head against a wall until I don’t need to think about this anymore.”

“Granted, we also thought the agency as a whole was trustworthy, and look at how that turned out,” Lily grumbled with a small shake of her head. “I really don’t want to believe that this is the case, but we don’t have a choice in the matter. We  have to  figure out the truth regardless of our previous reservations. That’s... That’s what we  have to  do, right?”

“I think we can debate what we should be doing later. For now, is there anything else we should be aware of regarding the crime scene?” I asked Mukuro, not wanting to think about the potential of a traitor any longer. That would only make me feel like growing up, and I really didn’t want to do that. I wouldn’t be able to go to the trial or see the truth if I was stuck sick at home, after all.

“I can’t really think of anything. Without an autopsy report, we can’t say much on the body. I mean, we know that he was killed from a combination of the stab wounds and the blunt force trauma, and I honestly don’t know if one of those is going to matter more than the other... I think we should take a picture of the knife for now, just in case we want to talk about it later with some witnesses,”  Mukuro  suggested. “It’s got to stay under the body because we can’t tamper with the crime scene, but pictures are allowed.”

Lily pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of the knife, or at least what was peeking out from underneath the body. Afterwards, she examined the photo before dropping it back into the pocket. “I want to know a little more about the bomb, if you don’t mind my asking. How was it disarmed? You said it was destroyed basically from the inside out, which is something to think about, right?” Lily asked of Mukuro and Detective Erikson.

“The knife used in the crime cut the bomb from the inside out.  All of  the wires were cut. The bomb was set up to explode when a button was pressed on a matching remote. That remote is currently in the hands of the bomb team to ensure that nothing is done to it. It is being disarmed and broken, just to make sure that everything is under control. There were some fingerprints found on the surface of the remote, but we still don’t know who they belong to. They do match the fingerprints on the side of the bomb though, so if I had to guess, the prints are from the person who was setting up the bomb to begin with,” Detective Erikson replied.

“The remote... Hm. I wonder what the full case is behind all of this. I mean, if somebody had a bomb, they must be a dangerous individual. It’s not like you can just pull a bomb out of nowhere or buy it at a local supermarket,” I frowned. “Don’t you have to put a bomb together? It’s not something somebody can randomly decide to put together. If you’re going to cause an explosion, you’ll have to plan ahead so that you can either create the bomb or buy it off the black market. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. Whoever was planning on doing this was devising such a scheme for a long time.”

“I can’t help but wonder who would have wanted to do this. It’s so incredibly sick. I mean, I know that there are some twisted people out there, but why would somebody want to blow up this office? There are a lot of people who work here... If they had a grudge against one  particular person  here in the Prosecutor’s Office, why blow the entire thing up when there’s a chance they won’t fall in the blast? I can’t help but question the motive,” Lily went on. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand people like this.”

“I don’t think we’re truly meant to. People who are sick enough to think that blowing up a building is a good idea aren’t meant to be understood. That’s not just a regular person. It’s somebody who’s going way too far for something that isn’t worth all it would cost. So many people would die in that situation, but they still went ahead with it. I don’t think I understand it at all, but... Forget about it. Anything else we should talk about?” I asked, looking back to the pair of detectives.

“I can’t think of anything we need you to do around here, but it wouldn’t be an awful idea to go and talk to the witness. His name is Elec  Daegana . He’s a prosecutor around here. He regularly wears a mask, you see. Nobody knows what his true face looks like. He’s been working here at the Prosecutor’s Office for quite some time, but most of his past is still a mystery to the world at large, I’m afraid,”  Mukuro  replied with a small shrug. “He was at the crime scene when the murder took place though. He was the one who found the dead body and the defendant next to it, which is what caused her to be arrested to begin with.”

“Prosecutor  Daegana  truly is a mystery, but because of that, we can’t do much to help you out with him. I think it’s time for us to leave you be for the time being. We have a few things to do before the trial starts tomorrow, and you have a few witnesses to speak with,” Detective Erikson said. “Why don’t you go on down the hall and talk to him?”

“We’ll get right to it. See you later,” Lily smiled, bowing her head to the pair of detectives before leading me away from the lobby, away from the blood, away from the dead coworker on the ground. I was thankful to be separated from the crime scene without even realizing it.

We walked further down the hallway nearest the scene of the murder. There was one person standing at the other side of the hallway, and I recognized this person as Prosecutor  Daegana . At least, I assumed this was Prosecutor  Daegana . I hadn’t ever seen this person, though it was easy to guess there was some connection between the witness and this new figure. 

“Hello!” Lily started out, waving one arm frantically down the hallway. 

The figure at the end of the hall turned to face us, and I could see a mask on their face. This had to be Prosecutor  Daegana . The mask gave it away without a problem. He walked closer to us, using a cane in one hand to keep himself steady. He was walking rather oddly, though I truly didn’t understand why that could have been the case. How could he be so unsteady? He wasn’t even walking differently than most people with problems in their legs. Older people with lacking strength in their lower halves walked differently, though still oddly, than Prosecutor Daegana. With that in mind, what could make him so different that has him acting like such an oddball?

“You must be Prosecutor  Daegana ,” Lily continued once Prosecutor  Daegana  was close enough to hear her at her regular volume. “My name is Lily Shield. This is Yuri  Rinko . We’ll be the defense attorneys  on the  more recent murder here at the Prosecutor’s Office. It’s nice to meet you.”

Prosecutor  Daegana  nodded and bowed his head. “My name is Elec  Daegana . It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I’m not going to  lie,  his voice made my heart pound a little bit faster. Call me starstruck all you want, but I am a sucker for a deep voice. They might just be my one weakness... You know, aside from men in tight cat suits. That was  definitely something  else I could get into given how much I loved a certain show staring a catlike superhero.

“So, we hear that you were here the day of the murder... Well, you were here this morning,” Lily corrected, hands on her hips as she asked the question. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was planning on trying to memorize everything Prosecutor  Daegana  said on the matter. “Would you be willing to tell us about what you witnessed?”

“Gladly,” Prosecutor  Daegana  responded with a curt nod. “You see, I was meant to be at the trial for one Lira Giuseppe. I was a witness in it, you know. However, I got caught up in some paperwork here at the office, and I  wasn’t able to  leave on time. In my rush to leave, I ran out of the office. Soon after, I heard a scream and went to investigate where it had come from. That was when I saw the defendant standing over the body of the victim, pointing at it and screaming. She was horribly frightened, as I’m sure you would have imagined.”

“Did you see anything else at the scene of the crime?” Lily asked, frowning slightly. I could tell by the look in her eyes what she was thinking. She was wondering if that was all. That couldn’t be all that he had to say, right? He was our crucial witness. If he only saw something as small as that, then our case was as good as dead before it had even started, which was the last thing either one of us wanted.

“Well, there is one thing that I’m sure you’ll find rather interesting from the time of the crime,” Prosecutor Daegana began. “I believe you were at the trial for the previous murder here at the Prosecutor’s Office, yes?”

“How did you know?!” I asked with a gasp of shock. How could he have figured something like that out when this was our first time meeting him? He couldn’t be a mind reader, right? What if that was why he wore the mask? Normally, somebody would reject such a theory, but I had also seen spirit channeling on multiple occasions, meaning that I was kind of used to things that others would dismiss as crazy.

“I’m no mind reader. However, I do know that nobody would have known the truth behind this incident unless they were at that trial. It didn’t hit the news until well after the people in that courtroom had been told of the truth, meaning that you must have been there to hear the truth behind another crime taking place,” Prosecutor Daegana replied with a small shrug. “It was a simple logical deduction, really.”

I felt my cheeks grow warm from the jump to conclusions and subsequent callout. “Oops... I guess that does make sense. Now, what else did you think we should know about?” I questioned, eager to change the subject before I made myself look even more foolish.

“There was one witness for that case who was stated to have gone missing. However, I can tell you conclusively that she’s not quite as missing as you might expect,” Prosecutor  Daegana  explained. “In fact, she was here at the Prosecutor’s Office all along, and as far as I can tell, she was involved in the crime as well.”

“You mean... Prosecutor Wood, right?” I realized with wide eyes. Everybody had seemed so concerned about her. I couldn’t believe we had forgotten to ask about her up to that point. After all, the whole reason that we found out about this case was because Prosecutor Cruz had been thinking he was getting a call that said she had been found. Without that little detail, I most certainly would not have been at the office.

“I do, as a matter of fact. She was here at the office all along, but nobody realized that was where she was. It caused many problems, as I’m sure you might imagine,” Prosecutor  Daegana  answered. “If you ask me, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask her about what she saw at the time. If she was here in the office when she should have been at the courthouse testifying, then she must have seen something here, yes?”

“You make a good point,” Lily agreed with a nod. “We’re going to be back to talk to you more a bit later, so don’t go too far. For now, we need to go and see what she heard about. Maybe you’ll be more willing to talk about how you’re tied into this case when we return, though I somehow doubt that will be the case.”

Prosecutor  Daegana  didn’t deny her assumption that he was lying about something relating to this case. Instead, he merely waited for us to walk away, and we did so. He was oddly still as we left the hallway behind, but I kept my eye on him anyways. Something about him was incredibly strange, though I really didn’t know how to think in a way that would reveal the truth.

“I think it’s time for us to go and see Prosecutor Wood,” Lily said, though I could tell she was thinking more about the oddball of a primary witness we had just finished speaking to.

I nodded my agreement. “Okay. Why don’t we go on and take care of it then?” I asked. 

Lily didn’t say anything in opposition, so we started out of the hallway. We didn’t say much, but we didn’t need to. We both knew the other was thinking about Prosecutor Daegana, but we had no idea what to do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're officially into the second half now! Awesome!
> 
> I bet you guys didn't expect me to kill Cormous though. Damn. I pull some sly tricks.\
> 
> -Digital


	32. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 2

** April 23 **

** Prosecutor’s Office **

** 1:45 PM **

** Lily Shield **

We didn’t take long to find Prosecutor Wood. She was standing alone in a hallway, fiddling nervously with the edge of her hair. I could see her pacing back and forth, likely because she thought nobody could see her. I frowned and raised up one hand. I waved it around briefly with hopes of catching her attention. “Prosecutor Wood?” I asked.

Prosecutor Wood halted her pacing immediately to stare at me, her face suddenly an odd pale shade. Despite this, she walked closer. Color seemed to return to her face when she realized that it was just me and Yuri. “Um... Hello,” Prosecutor Wood murmured, swallowing nervously. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re the lawyers on this case,” Yuri explained. “We heard that you were here at the time of the crime, and we want to hear about what you saw at the time. Is that okay?”

Prosecutor Wood nodded slowly. “Y-Yes... Yes, of course,” she murmured. 

“You seem flustered,” Yuri suddenly remarked. “Are you sure you’re alright? You look like you’re going to pass out any second now.”

“I’m fine... Just... I haven’t been feeling very good all day,” Prosecutor Wood explained. “I haven’t been able to figure out a way to do my work. I haven’t gotten anything done in so long, and I’m worried about my deadlines. I don’t know what to do, and I’m not feeling all that good about it... You’ll have to forgive me for not seeming like my normal self...”

“Why don’t you go on and sit down?” I suggested, gesturing to a nearby bench stationed in the hallway. 

Prosecutor Wood nodded slowly and took a seat on it. Yuri and I sat down on a bench on the opposite side of the hallway to look at her. Even after we sat down, she didn’t seem to be able to stop moving, fidgeting nervously in her seat and fiddling with everything that could be fiddled with. I could only stare in surprise, not sure of what to think of how unsettled she was all of a sudden.

“Why don’t you go on and tell us about what you saw at the time of the crime?” Yuri asked, getting us back on topic seamlessly.

Prosecutor Wood nodded again. “Okay... Well... You’re going to have to trust me on this, but... I don’t remember what I was doing at the time of this murder,” she admitted.

“You don’t remember?” I repeated, my eyes going wide. “You can’t be serious... What happened that could make you forget about everything you had seen?” 

“I don’t know... I just know that I don’t remember anything that happened at the time of the crime. It... It’s all a blur. I remember being here and preparing to go to the trial and testify about what I saw about the previous case here at the Prosecutor’s Office. However, when I went into the lobby, everything just goes black... Next thing I remembered, there were police everywhere, and I was sleeping on the bench up here,” Prosecutor Wood explained.

“Wow... I didn’t see that one coming,” I commented, shaking my head. “It’s strange that you’d just randomly not remember what you saw at the time of the murder... There must have been something that would cause you to forget. Do you remember being drugged at the time of the murder? If somebody had used chloroform or some other type of drug, maybe it knocked you unconscious and caused you to forget everything that happened from  around that  time.”

“I don’t know... I don’t think I was drugged. I’m sure there would have been some traces of it around my neck or clothing, but there wasn’t anything on me when I asked forensics to check me over. Besides, no drugs were found either at the scene of the crime or throughout the Prosecutor’s Office as a whole,” Prosecutor Wood replied with a small shrug.

“Yeah... There’s surely something fishy going on in here,” I murmured, looking down at my feet. “I just don’t understand it. Something must have happened to trigger your unconsciousness. Nobody just passes out randomly unless they have some health issues, and to my knowledge, you don’t have any health issues of that sort.”

“I don’t have any, no... I don’t know what it could have been,” Prosecutor Wood told us, visibly distressed now. “Perhaps I should start from the beginning again... Maybe there’s something I missed in my earlier testimony that would tell us what happened...”

“Yeah... Go on and start from the top again,” I agreed, pulling a small notebook from my pocket. I slid the pencil out of the rings and prepared to start writing. I began by heading the page off with a note about how she didn’t remember what happened at the time of the crime. There had to be an explanation. Even if this was our way of figuring out that she had a health condition that would trigger unconsciousness, that was still an explanation, which was what I thought we needed most at the moment.

“Well... I was getting ready to head to the trial at the local courthouse to testify. I was running behind, but I needed to gather some important paperwork before setting out. I was on my way out, and I was running to ensure that I got there on time, and then... I stumbled into the lobby,” Prosecutor Wood sighed. 

“The scene of the current crime, in other words,” Yuri remarked. “Which means that you saw something related to the murder but probably forgot about it due to whatever led to your unconsciousness... If you could remember what you saw, you could be our key witness to solving this case.”

“The main problem is if I can remember at this point... You’re probably right about me being able to help you out a lot, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember anything related to the case at all. I know that I walked into the lobby and heard some weird noises. I got a bit closer to investigate, and... That’s when I passed out. I didn’t feel anybody touch me at the time. I saw a man hunched over something, and... He was holding something... And then, there was nothing,” Prosecutor Wood murmured, shaking her head. “Also... My jacket went missing around this time.”

“Your jacket went missing?” I echoed. “What do you mean?”

“I was wearing a jacket on my way out since it was rather cold today... It’s black and made of leather. I had it on when I was leaving the Prosecutor’s Office, but when I came to again just a little while ago, there wasn’t a jacket anywhere in sight,” Prosecutor Wood explained. “I haven’t really had the chance to look around for it yet, but it has to be around here somewhere, right?”

“Hm... If there’s a jacket around here somewhere, then we’ll find it. I’m positive that we will,” Yuri smiled. “We’ll track it down for you and bring it back. You know, assuming that it isn’t any important evidence.”

“This jacket might explain what could have possibly knocked you unconscious... If your jacket was zipped up, then it could have caught any traces of chloroform if that was what was used to knock you out,” I pointed out. “If that jacket has those traces on it, then we can use that to our advantage. I’m not entirely sure how we’ll use it, but I’m positive that we’ll figure something out.”

“I’m glad to hear I can help you out somehow then,” Prosecutor Wood murmured. “Um... I don’t know what else to talk about right now... Maybe you should move on with your investigation... I-I'm not trying to get rid of you or anything, but... I don’t know. You probably have a lot of other things to investigate before the trial kicks off.”

“No, we can stick around for a little while longer,” I assured her. “I think that we should talk really quick about the man that you saw at the scene of the crime. You said he was hunched over a small object. What did you see about him that stuck out to you? If you remember he was there, you must remember something about his appearance.”

“I... I think he had brown hair. It was really dark in color too,” Prosecutor Wood replied. “He was holding something in his left hand, and he was curled up over a small object, but I couldn’t really see what the object he was. His clothing was kind of a blur, but I think he was wearing something dark. His hair and clothing seemed to blend together. I... I think the object in his left hand was... It was sharp...”

“Brown hair... Dark clothing... And something sharp... What sort of sharp thing was it?” I questioned.

“I don’t know... Sharp things make me feel sick, so I was overly focused on that... I think it was the last thing I saw before everything went dark,” Prosecutor Wood answered.

“Sharp objects make you sick...” I murmured, starting to violently scratch away on my notepad again. I had been writing important things from this conversation down, and my notes essentially came down to being passed out, jacket, and sharp. The description of the man was another thing that I found rather interesting. In a way, it sounded sort of like  Cormous . What if those had been his last moments alive? What if the killer had come in just after Prosecutor Wood passed out?

“It’s been that way for a long time now... If I see one, I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Prosecutor Wood told us, her face pink from embarrassment. “I couldn’t even tell what it was that he was holding. The concept that it was sharp though... That was enough to make me feel like I was going to get sick.”

“I see... Well, that’s certainly something to keep in mind. How many people know about that?” I asked. Somebody who knew her well could have easily used this weakness to distract her while the crime was being committed. But if that was the case, why not just eliminate her as a potential witness? If the killer wasn’t above resorting to murder, then why do something that would only stun her rather than take her out completely? It seemed fishy, but I didn’t really know what the explanation for it could be.

“Um... Just my adopted parents and a few other prosecutors I’ve worked with before. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke knows about it. He doesn’t put me on cases where people were stabbed because I can never get through them, no matter how hard I try to tough it out. The prosecutors that I’ve worked with in the past, like Prosecutor Cruz, Prosecutor Shield, and Prosecutor Burke are also aware of it, but I don’t think they could have been there at the time of the murder,” Prosecutor Wood replied.

“Chief Prosecutor Bespoke is the closest person to meeting the description that you gave us earlier, but you’d recognize him even from behind. After all, you’ve been working with him for years, and you live together. He wouldn’t just be a man with dark hair. You’d certainly know who he was...” I murmured.

“The man with dark hair and a sharp object probably isn’t the killer then. If only people who know about Prosecutor Wood’s weakness couldn’t have done it since they don’t meet the description, then that man must have been somebody else,” Yuri pointed out. “What if it was the victim?”

“I-I don’t know... I can tell you though that whoever it was had something sharp, and I felt  really sick  just before I blacked out. I wish I could give you more information, but it would take a miracle for me to remember whatever happened,” Prosecutor Wood replied.

“Hm... Were you suffering from exhaustion or hunger at the time? I know sometimes people pass out when they can’t keep themselves upright anymore. If they grow too tired, their bodies shut down temporarily to get the rest they need,” I pointed out.

Prosecutor Wood shook her head. “No... I’m perfectly healthy. The only way I was feeling odd was wanting to throw up after seeing that sharp object. Sorry to disappoint,” she told us with a frown.

“You don’t need to blame yourself or anything. There’s nothing you could have done to change such a fact, and that’s okay,” I told her, smiling to her gently. “You shouldn’t try to push yourself too hard. You look pale enough as it is, so why don’t you stay here for a little while? I think that’s about all that we need to know from you, which means that you can go back to your regular business now.”

“Thank you for listening to me,” Prosecutor Wood murmured, closing her eyes. “I... I think I’m going to lay down... I’m still not feeling amazing after that incident, and I think I need a bit of rest... If anybody needs me, they can just wake me up.”

“You do that. If you’re really feeling so sick, then that’s alright. If anybody has a problem with that, then they’ll have me to deal with, and I’ll happily scream at them until they get themselves together,” Yuri told her with a bright smile. “Goodnight, Prosecutor Wood. Have a nice rest.” Yuri got to her feet and patted Prosecutor Wood gently on the head.

Prosecutor Wood curled up on the bench, and a few seconds later, she was out like a light. Her breathing evened out as she fell asleep, and I smiled to myself. “I guess she was a bit more exhausted than she realized,” I told Yuri quietly, starting to walk away from the hallway.

“I bet so too... Perhaps we should go back to the crime scene. Maybe the autopsy report will be there by now. We need to know how  Cormous  died if we’re going to continue from here. After that, I don’t know what we’ll do, but we need to go and see Victoria in the detention center. We can meet up with Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis later to see what they found,” Yuri said.

“I hope they’re having more luck than us... So far, we’ve got a witness who doesn’t really know what to say to us in the form of Prosecutor  Daegana . After that, we have Prosecutor Wood, who doesn’t remember much of anything from the time of the crime despite seeing something happen at the crime scene.  Both of these  things add up to make this case a pain already,” I sighed, shaking my head.

“Well, maybe the crime scene will have something new for us. If the autopsy report is there, then we can consider ourselves lucky,” Yuri pointed out, always staying on the positive side. I always considered myself an optimistic person, but Yuri was always there to put me to shame.

“You’re right. Let’s head over there,” I nodded. 

We went over to the lobby silently, neither one of us speaking a word the whole way there. I couldn’t tell if that was because we couldn’t find anything to say or because we didn’t want to talk. Either way, if Yuri wasn’t interested in striking up a conversation, then I wasn’t going to force it or anything.

When we arrived, we saw Detective Erikson with a stack of files in one hand. He was handing out large envelopes to any police officers who came by. I knew that envelope all too well, and I smirked to myself as we grew nearer.

“Is that the autopsy report?” I asked.

Detective Erikson nodded. He pulled one out of the stack and handed it over to me. I looked over to Yuri and shared a knowing glance with her. She nudged me gently with her elbow (I can’t say how that was possible due to the large height gap between us, but she still made it work somehow) as I slid my finger under the envelope’s seal.

“We just got them in from the forensics team. We also got a report about the fingerprints found on the service of the knife, and I’m sure you’ll want to hear that too. It’s in the folder with the autopsy report, so you can check them out at your own pace,” Detective Erikson told us as he handed another passing investigator a copy of the forensics reports. 

I pulled the autopsy report free of its confines and handed it to Yuri. I peered at it over her shoulder.

_Name:_ _Cormous_ _Arme_    
_Time of Death: 9:50 AM_    
_Cause of Death: Repeated stab wounds to spinal area_    
_Notes: An injury was made by blunt force trauma after death. Knife wounds match with knife found at scene of the crime_

“So, the stab wounds were the cause of death,” Yuri murmured, nodding slowly. “The wound to his head was caused after he was killed... Doesn’t that seem a bit like overkill?” I didn’t comment on her accidental pun.

“It does seem odd, but we don’t know why the killer would have done all that. I mean, I’m positive that there was a reason, but we don’t know it. The repeated stab wounds were all to his back, meaning that there were too many of them to determine which one exactly killed him. It could have been blood loss, but the autopsy report claims that the multiple stab wounds did him in,” Detective Erikson said.

“He sure did lose a lot of blood... I don’t understand what the truth could be, at least not yet. I’m sure there’s something around here somewhere that will point us in the right direction, but until we find that little directional indicator, then we’ll just have to keep on assuming things and hope we aren’t barking up the wrong tree,” Yuri remarked with a loose shrug. “It’s not like we’ll have any way of knowing either way.”

I snapped suddenly, a thought springing to mind. “Wait a minute. There was a knife used to kill the victim. Didn’t Prosecutor Wood say that she saw somebody holding something sharp at the time of the crime? She walked in on something happening, and she mentioned that she could see somebody messing with a sharp object, which made her feel sick. What if the sharp object she was talking about was the knife used in the murder?” I asked.

“That could work out pretty well, actually... Do you think that’s what happened?” Yuri asked.

“I mean, I can’t think of anything else sharp that was at the scene of the crime at the time... Then again, it’s not like we had a witness here at the time to tell us if something was going on. The only witness that we have from the approximate time of the murder is Prosecutor Wood, and she told us herself that she couldn’t identify the sharp object used when she walked in,” I told her.

“So, you went and talked to Prosecutor Wood,” Detective Erikson commented.

“We did, as a matter of fact. I’m glad to see that there was a logical explanation for why she didn’t show up to the courthouse today,” Yuri said.

“I still think it’s a bit weird... Does that make sense? I mean, I can’t really describe why it feels weird, but... I don’t know,”  Mukuro  frowned. “Why would she just go missing? It makes sense as to why she was late, but nobody could find her at the time. That’s sort of odd.”

“That’s where things get a bit more complicated. We asked her about what she was doing at the time of the crime, and she told us that she couldn’t remember. We tried to ask her everything that we thought might trigger a memory, but nothing came up. She just couldn’t remember it. She said that she was running late, and when she went to leave the Prosecutor’s Office, she ran into something taking place here in the lobby. From there, she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she was laying down on a bench on one of the upper floors. The jacket she had been wearing at the time had gone missing as well, and she hasn’t been able to find it since the crime took place,” I explained.

“How odd... You know, there is one thing that I think might be able to tell you about why she lost consciousness,” Mukuro said. 

“Really?” Yuri asked. “Then go right ahead! We’re happy to listen.”

“Niamh is absolutely terrified of sharp objects like knives. She can’t even be put on cases where sharp objects were the murder weapon. Any stabbing cases are off the table for her. She doesn’t tell very many people about it, but she’s terrified by anything sharp. I know about it since we’re  pretty close  friends. I feel like that will help you out on this case somehow,” Mukuro replied.

“There’s something else that adds yet another layer of complexity to this case,” Detective Erikson said, crossing his arms. “It’s not just that she’s terrified of knives. They can actually cause negative impacts to her physical health.”

“Wait, seriously?” I asked. “What sort of negative impacts are we talking about here?”

“Her fear can trigger panic attacks quickly. When she has a panic attack, she sometimes hyperventilates, which means that she struggles with breathing. If she’s not breathing enough, then she could pass out from lack of oxygen. This isn’t every single time that she sees a knife, but the chances of such a thing happening aren’t exactly slim. There’s a possibility that she lost consciousness because she saw a knife,” Detective Erikson went on.

“I see... So, she probably passed out because she saw a knife being used at the time of the crime. That explains quite a bit,” Yuri murmured. “I heard that sometimes, if you lose consciousness, things that happen around that  period in time  are fuzzy. That would explain why she was so unsure of what made her pass out.”

“She knew that she saw a knife, but she didn’t realize that her fear was what made her drop out since her mind was fuzzy,” I agreed. “Still, I don’t think that fully explains how she just went missing. On top of disappearing out of nowhere, then she reappeared somewhere else in the building despite seeming to have been unconscious the whole time.”

“There must have been an outside influencer who moved her then. If the killer wanted to get her away from the scene of the crime, then they could have easily moved her away from the murder site. That could explain how she wound up in the side hallway asleep on the bench,” Yuri proposed.

“But at the same time, if that was the case, then why didn’t the killer just get rid of her outright? I hate to be morbid here, but if she was a witness to the murder, then a killer would want her dead. Waiting for her to fall unconscious and then carrying her away from the scene seems fishy since she could just remember it later on. We know that the killer is a violent person based on how many times the victim was stabbed. Would it make sense for somebody like that to really just let her live?” I asked.

“I don’t know... And it’s annoying me to high heaven,” Yuri grumbled, shaking her head in frustration. “It’s not like she could have just moved herself. She was unconscious. It’s not like somebody would pass out and then just immediately wake up and start walking around again. Even if she did start doing that, wouldn’t she be seen by the killer? She would have been noticed at some point whether she was trying to be seen or not... But if that’s all true, then how did she get moved from the lobby to the bench in the side hallway?”

“Something happened while she was unconscious... And I’m sure that she wasn’t lying when she said that she didn’t remember anything. I would have noticed something. It doesn’t make any sense... She doesn’t know what happened, but we don’t know who does know the truth. That’s the hard part here... There  has to  be somebody around here who is aware of what happened at the time when she was unconscious. If there isn’t someone who knows, then I don’t know what we’ll do... It’s odd to think about,” I sighed. “Detective Erikson? Mukuro? Do you have any ideas as to something that could help us out in this case?”

“I’m afraid not... I know that she passes out at the sight of knives, but it’s not like I know anything else that might be considered helpful in this case. I know that sounds pessimistic, but it’s the truth. If I had anything else to tell you on the matter, I would have done it before now,” Mukuro replied.

“Maybe we should go and talk to her again at some point,” Yuri offered.

“I don’t think we’ll have time to do so. We need to go and meet up with the others in the detention center soon. After that, our investigation won’t have much time to continue... What about the prosecution on this case? Who will we be going up against in court?” I asked, turning my attention to the pair of detectives nearby.

“That’s where things get a bit complicated, I’m sorry to say. There’s no prosecutor assigned to this case yet, and if there is somebody on it, they haven’t come by to talk to us yet. They probably don’t have the autopsy report. Between two murders taking place so close back to back and the general chaos that comes with working here, the prosecutors are all in a state of panic at the moment. I wish there was more I could tell you to help, but...” Detective Erikson stopped himself before he could finish the sentence.

“I’m positive that whenever the prosecutor shows up to investigate the crime scene, they’ll announce that they’ll be having her come to testify in court. She’s one of the few witnesses that we have at the moment, and unlike a certain someone else, she doesn’t enjoy speaking in riddles,”  Mukuro  went on.

“I’m going to go on and call that a victory. I mean, even if everybody on this case is unprepared, we’ll have time to examine her testimony in open court, which will certainly yield results,” Yuri remarked.

I didn’t bring up the fact that this could easily end in disaster. If we didn’t glean much from her testimony, then we wouldn’t have a place to go when the second day of investigation kicked off. I was sure at this point that we’d be given extra time to investigate the case. There was no way that something like this would wrap up in the span of one courtroom session. There were too many loose ends that had to be tied up, and I highly doubted they would all come together in just a few hours.

“Well, thank you for helping us out with everything up to this point,” Yuri went on, shooting a small smile to the detective pair.

“It’s no problem. We have faith that you’ll do whatever you need to tomorrow,” Detective Erikson said with a small smile. “We have to go back to organizing the chaos that is this crime scene at the moment. You go on down to the detention center and speak with the suspect. How does that sound?”

“We’re on it,” I told him. “Until next time.”

We walked away from the crime scene soon after. Yuri stood at my side once we left the building. I leaned up against the brick wall and let out a sigh. “Well, this is not going in our favor so far... We’ve got Prosecutor Daegana, but he seems to know something that we don’t and doesn’t want to say anything that might help us out. Maybe we could pressure him in court tomorrow,” I suggested.

“If the prosecution gets around to talking to him. They’re starting late enough as it is. I bet all their attention is going to be on the crime scene and talking to Prosecutor Wood. It will be a miracle if we get anything out of them aside from those two things,” Yuri pointed out with a roll of her eyes.

“I really don’t think jumping into this trial so soon was a good idea, but I think that we were already aware of that before this mess started off,” I murmured, shaking my head. “But there isn’t much we can do about it now. We can’t just force the legal system to hold off the case. I just hope that the others have been a bit more successful than us. Maybe Victoria saw something just before she was arrested. What if Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis stumbled upon something that would help them solve the previous case? If so, then we could use that to our advantage. The cases are so tightly connected that a clue for the two of them is as good as a clue for us too.”

“I guess all we can do at this point is ask when we meet up. Time to head for the car, I suppose,” Yuri said. She pointed to my car and started walking over there. I followed after her. 

We weren’t saying anything about the possibility of a traitor, but I didn’t think we really needed to say anything. It was on both of our minds whether we wanted to admit it or not, and all the investigating in the world wouldn’t distract us from that fact completely. The agency was back together, but was it really? If you asked me, I would have said no, because it sure as hell didn’t feel like we were working as a cohesive unit.

In fact, I wasn’t sure if it would feel that way ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going up hella late but here it is
> 
> -Digital


	33. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 3

** April 23 **

** Detention Center **

** 2:45 PM **

** Yuri  ** ** Rinko **

When Lily and I arrived at the detention center, we were met by the rest of our law agency, or at least what was left of it. Deirdre was sitting in the chair facing Victoria, who was on the other side of the glass. Mr.  Morix  was standing up against the wall with his arms crossed, and Chrysalis was at his side. They all stared at Victoria, who was rubbing tearfully at her eyes. None of them were saying anything, but Victoria looked up with a small yet weary smile upon realizing that Lily and I had arrived.

“So, how did it go?” Chrysalis asked. She had noticed we were present without looking away from Victoria.

“We found quite a bit,” Lily said with a small smile. “I’m happy to say that our investigation went rather well. I hope that you all had just as much luck as we did, if not more.”

“I’m afraid not,” Mr.  Morix  sighed, shaking his head. “We searched every inch of the Prosecutor’s Office we thought would help us out, and we didn’t find anything that would lead us to the one that killed Prosecutor Cruz. The case is as good as dropped at this point in favor of figuring out the truth behind the newer murder.”

“The details on that case were scarce to begin with, so it doesn’t surprise me that everybody decided to give up. I know that sounds rather pessimistic, but it’s true... I’m just glad that you guys at least had some form of success,” Chrysalis murmured, shaking her head. I could tell that she was holding back more than a few foul words dedicated at the  universe as a whole . “But enough about our investigation. We didn’t find anything, so we’re relying entirely on what you three found out.”

“Well, we wound up talking to a few people that I’m sure you’ll find interesting. We found Prosecutor Daegana, first of all. He told us that one Prosecutor Wood was where we’d find answers regarding the case, and we went to her next. She told us that she doesn’t remember anything from the time of the murder despite being there. She was meant to be at the trial, but she wasn’t, and she fell unconscious at some point around the time the murder took place. Later in the day, she woke up, and she was in a completely different part of the office. That was about the time that the murder was discovered,” Lily explained.

“You’ll have to start from the beginning there. If I was taking any mental notes, they just imploded from how fast you were going,” Chrysalis said dryly, though I could tell the tension in her voice came from thinking about the potential traitor in our little group. After all, she had the most to lose if the traitor decided to mess around and harm people in the agency. It came with the territory of being a spy.

“Okay. So, we started off by talking to Prosecutor  Daegana . If you ask me, we probably weren’t much more successful than you were. We heard quite a bit about your progress during your trial while we were sitting in, and we got the feeling that he was always a mysterious character who didn’t say much of anything unless somebody tried to force it out of him. Even then, that isn’t a guarantee of success,” I started off. “He really didn’t give us much information to go off, but he said that we should go and talk to Prosecutor Wood.”

“So, we did. We found her pacing around in a hallway on one of the upper floors of the Prosecutor’s Office. She told us what had happened around the time of the murder. She was on her way out to go and visit the trial that you two were taking care of earlier in the day, but she was running a little bit behind. On the way out, she ran into the crime taking place, and she passed out as a result. When she came to, she was on a different floor of the office, her jacket was gone, and the body had been discovered. She has no idea what happened in the time that she was unconscious,” Lily kept saying.

“Well, I guess we understand now why she never showed up... She was running behind, and even after she started to head our way, she was unconscious because of the murder,” Mr.  Morix  murmured with a small nod. “Any ideas on what could have possibly caused her to pass out?”

“She has a fear of sharp objects, and we think that she saw the knife used in the crime, and that caused her to hyperventilate and subsequently fall unconscious. She mentioned that nobody touched her, and no chloroform was found on her clothing. However, there is the possibility that chloroform was used and only got on her jacket, which went missing while she was asleep. There’s no real proof in any direction,” I shrugged, shaking my head. “But I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes...”

“Yeah... I don’t know. There’s so much to keep in mind here, but there’s not really any solid evidence,” Lily remarked. “But after we talked to her, we got our hands on the autopsy report. We found out that multiple stab wounds to the back caused the death. There was a head injury, but it was only inflicted after he died. There was enough blood at the scene of the crime to conclude that it was caused by blood loss, but it seems as if stabbing did it, at least according to the autopsy.”

“I see... What else happened?” Chrysalis asked. “There has to be something else, right?” I got the feeling she was desperate for details after she and Mr.  Morix  failed so miserably in their investigation. It wasn’t their fault or anything, but I could still see how it would easily be frustrating.

“There was a small bomb found at the scene of the crime. It was disarmed, but not really by the bomb squad that arrived at the crime scene. The murder weapon, a knife, as we already mentioned, was used to cut the wires from the inside out. The bomb was destroyed beyond a chance of being fixed. Regularly, it would be detonated by remote, and the remote was found at the scene of the crime,” Lily explained. “There were some fingerprints found on both the bomb and remote, but we didn’t find out whose fingerprints they were.”

I gasped. “That’s right! We have the forensics report that says whose fingerprints are on it. We didn’t ever look at it, did we?” I asked, tapping one finger on my chin.

“You’re right. Let’s get into it,” Lily nodded, reaching into her purse to pull out the envelope. She showed the yellow envelope, handing it over to me. 

I reached inside before pulling out the smaller off the two packets. The larger one was the autopsy, but the smaller one was the one that had the fingerprint analysis records. I looked through the pages before finally finding what I needed to see. “Ah, here we are,” I murmured, smiling to myself in satisfaction that I found it. “It says that one set of fingerprints was found on the bomb and remote, and they happen to match. The fingerprints belong to one  Cormous  Arme, in other words, the victim... Dang. That’s unfortunate.”

“You were hoping that we’d have some luck with figuring out who the killer was,” Lily commented, shaking her head. “I guess not. I suppose the killer was a bit smarter than that, which is unfortunate for us. It’s harder to find out the truth when we don’t have any evidence on our side.”

“I wonder why he was touching the bomb though... I mean, we don’t know who would want to place a bomb in the Prosecutor’s Office. Why would he bother doing that? I don’t even know why he was here, and yet, he got tied up in all of this,” I said with a small frown.

“It sounds as if there’s a lot more to figure out behind this case than we already know. I don’t like that idea, but there’s not anything we can do about it,” Deirdre remarked, speaking up for one of the first times since our little meeting began.

“I guess all we can do is hope that things get better in the meantime,” Chrysalis shrugged loosely. “If he did touch it, there must be a reason for it... Perhaps he was trying to disarm it.”

“If you saw a bomb, you wouldn’t try to disarm it on your own. That would only make things more dangerous,” Deirdre pointed out. “Why did he touch it? He couldn’t have had a good enough reason to make up for why he would do such a thing. We can’t ask him about his logic anymore, but...”

“Speaking of, I have something to say,” Chrysalis said, looking down at her feet. “While  Cotoli  and I were investigating, I decided to try and channel  Cormous  to ask him a few things... Well,  Cotoli  would do more of the asking, but I would channel him. However, it didn’t work. No matter how many times I tried, the channeling kept on failing.”

“What can cause a channeling to fail?” I asked. 

“There are a few things, but I don’t know what to make of any of them. There are some cases in which somebody will attempt to channel a spirit without the correct name. If you try and channel a spirit but call out to them using the wrong name, they will not answer. If somebody is already being channeled, then they can’t be taken by another. The final thing is... It’s highly unlikely, and when I say highly, I mean that it’s never happened to my knowledge. If the person isn’t already dead, then they can’t be channeled since their spirit is already in their actual body,” Chrysalis explained.

“We saw his corpse. He  has to  be dead. There’s no way that anybody could have survived that, and his corpse is still there. It’s not like he could just get up and walk away as if nothing happened. That simply enough isn’t possible,” Lily concluded. “And why would he lie to us about what his name is? I can’t think of a reason he would want to do such a thing. It’s just  like  the bomb situation. I can’t fathom why he would do such a thing. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I guess maybe he was just being channeled by somebody else... I tried just before you arrived, so if he is being channeled, the medium is doing it for quite a while. I don’t know how they have the strength to do that. I would have passed out by now,” Chrysalis frowned, shaking her head.

“There’s not much we can do about that though... Maybe you could channel the spirit of Prosecutor Cruz. He must know the person who killed him, right? If we can figure out who did him in, then we could go from there to determine how the killer is connected to this case,” I suggested.

“As a matter of fact, we did that,” Mr.  Morix  said. “We decided it would be a good idea, so she summoned his spirit. This channeling was successful, and he told us of what happened to him, but... He doesn’t know the name of his killer. In fact, the killer got him from behind, so he didn’t see anything about them either. He said the killer was a man about his height though, which is just what we concluded from last time we talked about this case.”

“So, even if you got the chance to talk to him, it didn’t do much to help you figure out who the killer was,” I concluded. 

“Yeah, that’s accurate... He only confirmed everything that we had found out,” Chrysalis frowned. “I wish it had gone differently... I first tried to channel  Cormous  before I summoned Prosecutor Cruz. It didn’t work then. Afterwards, I tried again. The session with Prosecutor Cruz was short enough to not exhaust me, which is really good. Normally, channeling takes  all of  my energy in the blink of an eye, but this was nice and short. I wasn’t tired enough to lose the ability to channel completely.”

“Yeah. Doing too much at once depletes your energy, and your body rejects any potential channeling to make sure that you don’t get sick,” Lily told us. I forgot that she could channel sometimes with how little she did it in comparison to Chrysalis. 

“It really should have worked, but it didn’t for some reason. It's because of that annoying little issue that we’re still in this situation. If we could have asked  Cormous  who killed him, we could use that to construct a case. Spirit channeling isn’t seen as conclusive evidence in court since, according to the system, it can be falsified. It isn’t easy to falsify, but some people still try, and that means none of it is reputable,” Chrysalis told us with a roll of her eyes. “We would have to use that testimony to build a case that could be used in court since it wouldn’t work on its own, but it would still be a starting point, which is what we need right now.”

“That sounds like a good enough summary of what has happened during the investigation. Not much was found from the first case, but we did get confirmation on the type of the person that killed the victim,” Deirdre concluded. “As for the second case, we were able to get the autopsy report and some witness testimony, even if that testimony doesn’t contain any major information about the killer.”

“Now, we should ask Victoria about what she saw at the time,” Mr.  Morix  suggested. “We had her hold off on explaining what happened since she didn’t want to have to say it multiple times. Victoria, if you don’t mind telling the story, now is the time.”

Victoria had been so quiet up to this point, and I swallowed nervously. She looked at least somewhat healthy, and I assumed that was thanks to Deirdre. Since Deirdre had an affinity for psychology, she was likely able to keep Victoria calm and from generally losing her mind. I had been in the detention center before, and it was mind-numbing, to put it nicely. Victoria, in as fragile a state as she was, needed as much help as she could get to keep from suffering too much under the horrible circumstances.

Victoria nodded slowly before taking a deep breath. I could hear her voice shaking slightly from the breath alone, but I didn’t comment on it. Instead, I smiled gently in her direction to hopefully calm her down a little. “You’re going to be fine,” I assured her.

Victoria took a moment to hype herself up before she spoke. “I guess everybody from our agency got the same idea yesterday. I mean, Deirdre, Lily, and Yuri decided to go and watch the trial. I, on the other hand, decided it would be more effective to head to the Prosecutor’s Office to help with the investigation and hopefully find something that could point to who the killer behind the case is. I showed up rather early in the morning, before the trial started, but I didn’t find anything in that period since I didn’t know all the ins and outs of the case,” she explained.

“You went by to help us out?” Chrysalis asked, her eyes wide. “Well, I certainly didn’t expect that. I mean, I knew you had your reasons to go, but I didn’t expect that to be what it was.”

“Yeah, I did. I didn’t want anything bad to happen in the trial, so I dropped by with hopes of finding some extra evidence. I searched the Prosecutor’s Office in areas where there weren’t many police officers. They let me inside after I said that I was from the agency as you two, but they didn’t seem to be aware of our temporary breaking up, so I got in pretty easily,” Victoria went on.

“You didn’t have any success with searching the area, if I had to guess,” I said, crossing my arms. “If you had found something, then we would be in a much better position, at least when it comes to solving the previous trial.”

“No, I’m afraid I didn’t find anything. I headed back down to the lobby with hopes of starting from the beginning once again. Maybe there was just something that I had missed along the way, you know?” Victoria sighed. “That was when I found the body. I could smell something, and I followed my nose away from the main entrance area to the segment behind the stairs. There was Cormous, on the ground, covered in blood and not breathing... I think I screamed...? I don’t really remember. Everything from the time is a blur.”

“Did anybody see you there at the time?” Mr. Morix asked.

Victoria nodded. “Yeah... One person saw me there. It was Prosecutor Daegana, I believe they said his name was. He called the police soon after, but he didn’t seem to think I did it. I’m thankful that he at least had a bit of faith in me. I guess he had his sights set on somebody else, but I can’t say who that person could have been... I hope that makes some sense.”

“Hm... I don’t know what goes through his head. I keep on trying to get him to say something, but it never works,” Chrysalis murmured, shaking her head. “I guess that he’s got something going on if he thinks that Victoria is innocent...”

“I think I know why he thought that,” Mr.  Morix  piped in. “This is just a theory, but it’s something to keep in mind... If a killer were to stick around the crime scene, what would they have all over  them?  This is especially important given that this case is a stabbing, meaning it was close combat.”

“Blood would be everywhere. If you stab someone, especially that many times, then it would get all over you,” Deirdre concluded. “And yet, here Victoria is, notably lacking in blood. Unless somebody used something to cover up the blood splatter, their clothing would be covered in it.”

“Given the chaos that the office has been in over the past few days, if somebody knew what they were doing, they could sneak in and out with blood all over themselves and not be seen. Most of the police officers are centered around a given area, so they would ignore the entrance of the building if they thought something else was more pressing,” Lily remarked.

“So, in other words, the culprit could have slipped in and out without much consequence... I really don’t know how to feel about that. If you ask me, it sounds like a recipe for disaster to assume something like that. Most of the time, a killer will return to the scene of the crime, or at least try to clean up after themselves... Assuming that the culprit just ran off like that might get us into trouble... You know what they say about assuming things,” Deirdre murmured.

“In other words, we can’t jump to conclusions just yet,” I said, always there to dumb things down when necessary. I knew I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I had to do this for myself more often than I would care to admit.

“No, we can’t... We’ll just have to keep ourselves open to other possibilities,” Deirdre nodded.

“Hm... I really don’t know what to say on the matter. There’s so much to keep in mind here, but I don’t know,” Lily shrugged. “Maybe there’s just something we’re missing...”

“I think the killer did one thing of particular note that we should keep in mind here... They spared Prosecutor Wood,” Chrysalis said. “If she really saw the murder as it happened, with somebody holding a knife at the scene of the crime, then the culprit would want to silence any witnesses. Given how ruthless they were with killing Cormous, it seems to me like they wouldn’t want to keep her alive. Nobody that reckless would just... Allow her to live, you know?”

“Yeah. They certainly didn’t hold back when it came to  killing  him, so why let her live? Why did they move her away from the crime scene as well? If the culprit needed somebody to frame, they could have set her up for it while she was unconscious, and yet, nothing like that happened. Isn’t that fishy?” I agreed, nodding to myself.

“Her being involved with this case is something to consider, but the fact that barely anything happened to her is an important thing that we should keep in the back of our heads this whole time,” Deirdre said firmly.

“I just wish I knew what to do with this information... Unless we can pull something revolutionary out of thin air, then we don’t have anything to use for the trial tomorrow. I know that sounds kind of bad, but with how little we know about the case and our general lack of witness testimony, we don’t have much direction. I mean, we might have two witnesses, but one of them refuses to speak clearly while the other was unconscious at the time for reasons that might not have much to do with the murder,” Lily admitted.

“Well, even if it seems hard, I’m sure that we’ll be able to figure something out sooner or later. I mean, we  have to  figure something out. That’s what this case is riding on,” I assured her, trying to sound more optimistic than I felt. Internally, I wanted to scream in frustration and slam my head into a wall repeatedly despite knowing that wouldn’t do us any good. On the outside though, I knew I was surrounded by a bunch of pessimistic people, so I would have to do something to keep things bright and cheery.

I guess the bit about everybody being pessimistic isn’t true, but it’s  pretty close  to being. Those that aren’t regularly pessimistic aren’t having a good time, meaning their thoughts are darker. In other words, this is going to be a mess of negative energy.

“There’s not much we can do now aside from just hope that the trial goes well,” Chrysalis declared, pushing herself away from the wall she had been leaning on up to this point. There was still a quiet hostility to her voice, an uncertainty she didn’t know how to explain aloud. However, she didn’t need to.

We were all working together despite the threat of a traitor. By some miracle, we had come to an uneasy alliance, and we were going to be seeing it through to the end. I couldn’t tell you where this came from, if I’m being perfectly honest, but I had the feeling it was going to be an important aspect of this case.

We could have just as easily stayed separate for the remainder of this case, if not for the remainder of our lives. Despite the risk, despite everything going somewhat horribly for us, we decided to come together and work as a cohesive unit again. It was a risky move, but we had still seen past the danger to unite as one just as we had back before everything went down the rabbit hole and into the darkest depths of hell.

“Do you think that we’re done with our meeting now?” Deirdre asked uncertainly. I knew that it wasn’t because she wanted us to split up, but instead because she knew that it was time for us to focus on other things. She wanted to stay together but knew there were other things to do.

“I guess so,” Mr.  Morix  said. He turned to Victoria with a genuine expression (or at least, as genuine as it could be given the situation at hand). “Do you need anything else from us?”

Victoria shook her head. “I don’t, no... I think my boyfriend will be coming by a little later to see me though, so I won’t be alone. Plus, there’s the matter of my mother... I’m surprised she hasn’t dropped by yet... Then again, she’s not really the best with places like this, so maybe she’s waiting for my boyfriend...”

“I hope that meeting goes well then,” Chrysalis told her with a small smile. “As for the rest of us, we should head out and prepare for the trial tomorrow. I know that only Yuri and Lily did the official investigating, but I feel like we’re all going to be involved in it somehow. Call it a gut instinct.”

“I don’t like the fact that we’re all going to be tied into this,” I admitted, sighing to myself. “But I guess there’s not really much we can do on the matter.”

“If we’re all in agreement, let’s go on and head out. We’ll see you tomorrow at the courthouse, Victoria. Try not to get into any trouble while we’re gone,” Mr.  Morix  told Victoria. “Granted, it’s not like you can really get into any trouble because you’re stuck in one of two rooms for the rest of the day and until the trial starts, so...”

“Yeah... I just get to stare at the wall. At least I can fantasize about what I hope will happen,” Victoria said, trying to remain at least partially optimistic, but I could tell easily that it was faked. She was probably going to sleep miserably, lonely as could be, after leaving us behind to head back to her detention cell.”

“Well, good luck with that,” Lily told her. “For your sake, we’re going to figure out who did this. The person who killed  Cormous  won’t be getting away with murder again anytime soon. The same applies to the previous case at the Prosecutor’s Office, you know. It’s all going to end in our favor. I’m positive.” Once again, there was false optimism. I hoped that this didn’t become a running trend among the people in our agency. I just wanted people to be nice and happy, but given the traitor situation, that seemed to be a bit too much to ask for.

We all started to head away from the detention center’s visiting room. As we were on the way out, we passed by a pair of people, one of them being a smaller woman who was generally hunched over. She had darker hair, and as I looked at her, I realized that she held a striking resemblance to Victoria. 

There was a much taller man walking at her side, but he didn’t seem to be older than the woman he was with. In fact, if I had to guess, he was younger. He was wearing all black and had a hood up to cover his face. You know, the longer I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed to be, but I couldn’t really put a finger on how I would know a man like that... 

I shook it off as we left the building fully. There were a few silent farewells as Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis headed off to the former’s car. Chrysalis slid into the passenger’s side while Mr.  Morix  took his place behind the wheel. They were gone in a matter of minutes, leaving just me, Lily, and Deirdre standing outside.

“I think I’m going to head back as well... I’m sure that my sister is wondering where I am,” Deirdre said quietly, turning away from us. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Deirdre left soon after, and I turned to face Lily with a frown. “I don’t like this at all... I mean, everybody’s thinking about how little they trust each other because of that one trial. I’m glad we took that case on to free Detective Erikson from detention, but there’s still something else that’s bugging me... The traitor thing... If there really is a traitor, we need to find them out as quickly as possible. After they get booted, then things can go back to normal. We’ll finally be able to be happy together again. It feels like we haven’t  been  able to do something like that for ages, even if it’s only been a few weeks.”

“I understand what you’re saying here... Hopefully this trial will be able to lead us to something sooner rather than later. With the death of  Cormous , we’re ruling him out as a suspect...  At least  I think. Maybe he was killed because he found out... But that just means Victoria is the traitor and killed him for it... I don’t want to think about this ending. I kind of want to scream,” Lily admitted.

“Regardless, I guess all we can do is press on and hope that things go in our favor. It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it right now,” I pointed out with a small shrug. “Well, let’s head back... Can you give me a ride back to my house? You know me. I can’t drive since I’m still a child.”

“Did you even get your permit?” Lily asked, raising an eyebrow teasingly.

“No, but who cares?” I said quickly, not wanting to admit that I liked being driven around more than  actually driving  myself. “Let’s just get back home.”

Lily didn’t bring it up again all the way back. The drive to my house was uncomfortably silent, but I didn’t dare to try and break the quiet. It was a risk I simply wasn’t willing to take. I didn’t want to make things too awkward or potentially slip up and say something I didn’t mean. 

I was more determined than ever to find the traitor, but I wished I knew how to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An extra update is coming out this Sunday yeet
> 
> -Digital


	34. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 4

** April 24 **

** Defendant Lobby No. 5 **

** 9:30 AM **

** Yuri Rinko **

The next morning, I arrived relatively early to the courthouse. Well, I say relatively early, but that’s on Yuri standards. I know myself as someone who’s late a good chunk of the time, so this is a good thing for me. I was somewhat on time since early equates to on time for me. I smirked to myself, flopping down onto the couch and waiting for Lily to come. 

My mom had been able to drive me to the courthouse today, so I didn’t need Lily to be my chauffeur all day... Just most of the day. After the investigation kicked off again, she would have to drive me around everywhere, but that hadn’t happened yet, so I could save her a little bit of gas, at least for now.

Lily wasn’t the next person to arrive, surprisingly. It was Deirdre, who was oddly on time compared to how early she regularly tried to be everywhere. Deirdre sat down next to me. “I want to find the traitor,” she said simply, not hesitating at all to jump into what was on her mind. That sounded like Deirdre, always straight and to the point... Despite really not being all that straight.

“I do too,” I nodded, looking down at my feet. “I don’t want to deal with this any longer. It’s so annoying to think that we can’t talk to each other because of something that might not even be true.”

Deirdre looked down as well, and she swallowed dryly. “I... I have something to say here, and I feel like it’s going to be rather controversial...” she murmured, not sure of how to go about saying this.

“Go on ahead. I don’t mind controversial. I mean, I feel like my existence is controversial, and knowing you, you won’t fly too far off the handles when talking about a serious subject like this,” I told her.

Deirdre nodded. “Alright... I think  Cormous  might be the traitor,” she muttered, her voice barely audible above the regular stir and hubbub of the defendant lobby.

I looked at her in surprise, not because I was shocked with her accusation, but instead because she seemed to have read my mind. I had been up late thinking about this the night before, not wanting to believe it but thinking the possibility was there.  Cormous  was the one outlier in the agency, if you wanted my opinion. He was the only one who didn’t believe in Oracle’s wanting to help others. I didn’t know why he thought this way or how this ideology slipped through the cracks. I would have expected that to be part of the interview process, but I guess not.

“What’s that look for?” Deirdre asked, her voice only halfway defensive. The other half was sincere and gentle, and it reminded me of the days when she had been so kind to me at the agency. It felt like that was years ago despite only being a few weeks into the past.

“I just find it funny that you’re saying that, because I was thinking the same thing just last night,” I told her with a small yet awkward smile. “I mean, I was thinking that it might be the truth... He thinks so radically different from the rest of us. Where did he get that idea from? Why did he decide to come and work here despite all of that?”

“And if he is the traitor, then what could that possibly mean for the future of the agency? What did he come into the agency to find out, and how much did he reveal to the enemy?” Deirdre asked, ever the philosopher. “I feel like the second question already has a clear answer though.”

She wasn’t wrong. She knew exactly what was going on, and I did just the same.  Cormous , or whoever the traitor was, came to the agency wondering about Oracle. Even before the cases the year before we had taken on related to Oracle, the spy had always been oddly connected to the agency. Anybody who wanted to know more about Oracle knew there was a connection to the agency.

“I believe you’re right... I don’t know how we’re going to find proof for it though either. If the traitor thing is involved, then we could ask Victoria about it. If she really did do it (which I highly doubted), then she would realize that something was going on involving  Cormous . If that was the supposed motive, then she would have to know something about the person who she killed. I’m not saying that she did it, but if she did it like the police think, then she would have to know about it. 

Speaking of Victoria, she arrived with Lily soon after we started talking about this. Victoria and Lily approached us, neither of them saying anything until they were in front of us. “So, what are we going to do?” Lily asked, looking at us with a small frown. “I don’t know what to do from here, but one of you might know something.”

“Victoria, did you commit this crime?” Deirdre asked, her voice clear as she looked to Victoria. I got the feeling she already knew the answer just like I did, but I guess it didn’t hurt to ask about it.

Victoria shook her head. “No... I would never have wanted to kill  Cormous . Promise. I didn’t even run into him that day before I saw him dead... That was the first time I saw him that day. I swear,” she said firmly, frowning to herself. I could see that tears were trying to spill over from her eyes.

“We don’t think that you did it,” Deirdre assured her. “We were just thinking that if you had, you would think that Cormous is the traitor... That’s what we were just talking about.”

“ Cormous  is the traitor... Do you have any evidence of this?” Victoria questioned, but I could hear how her voice was shaking. I could tell she was terrified of the mere concept that he was trying to turn against her. Victoria had always been one of the more trusting members of the agency as far as I was concerned, and I felt bad at the thought that he might have been manipulated.

“We don’t have any solid evidence right now, but we don’t have anything to prove his innocence either... Granted, that also applies to everybody else at the agency, but I feel like the situation is a bit different here. He’s shown before that he doesn’t really agree with things that everybody else in the agency does, which comes off as rather fishy to me. Why would he surround himself with people that he doesn’t get along with on a fundamental level unless he was trying to gain something? There’s no reason to make yourself suffer around people that you would argue and bicker with all the time,” I pointed out.

“I wonder... How odd,” Victoria murmured.

“You’re talking about what he was saying about Oracle back when we were on the case at the nature preserve,” Lily realized with a small nod. “I see... I mean, I guess it would make sense... I mean, we haven’t talked much about Oracle since he showed up due to the agency struggling to stay together after our second case as a cohesive unit... If his thoughts were really that different from the rest of us, why stick around? Even if we haven’t talked about it much, I feel like he would still know what we were talking about when he heard Oracle coming up... I hope all of this rambling makes sense.”

“No, I understand you completely. Why would he take this job if it would put him against everybody that he was surrounded by? It doesn’t make any sense to me either...” I told her, shaking my head. “His behavior just seems odd in that one fundamental way, but it’s not like that’s a small detail that we can just ignore. It’s something important that we’ll need to keep in the back of our heads up until we figure out this whole traitor situation.”

Chrysalis and Mr.  Morix  entered the room before we could say much else on the matter. “Hello,” Chrysalis said simply, her voice lacking its usual friendly casualness. She leaned up against the nearby wall, crossing her arms and staring blankly up at the ceiling. “What’s going on with you guys?”

“We were just talking about our potential traitor... We have a theory as to who it might be,” I told her, praying that my theory wound up being correct. As horrible as it sounded to hope that the traitor was  Cormous , if he was dead, that meant that we wouldn’t need to worry about him anymore. Things could go back to the way they once were, and we’d all be closer because we’d have survived this dreadful situation and triumphed over him.

“Go on then,” Mr.  Morix  instructed. He seemed to be taken back slightly by this declaration, but he still looked prepared to hear what we had to say.

“Cormous,” I told them quickly. “We think that Cormous might be the traitor that we’ve been trying to find for so long.”

“We were thinking about it and wondered why he would come to work at the agency anyways. We know that nobody really agrees with his thoughts regarding a certain figure in our modern culture. Nobody agrees with what he thinks of Oracle, and he’s always had something of a grudge against them. He doesn’t like them at all,” Lily explained. “I told you about that after the case we took on at the nature preserve. He doesn’t think Oracle is a good person and doesn’t like them at all. It’s rather odd that he’d come to work here, at the agency, knowing that we’ve been involved in the Oracle cases in the past.”

“Why would he want to come to the agency if he was just going to be arguing against us the whole time? It doesn’t make any sense. It would just aggravate him and the rest of us, so why would he bother? He would be in a constant argument with somebody else as he tried to prove his reasoning, and that wouldn’t be a positive working environment for him or anyone around him,” Deirdre pointed out.

Mr.  Morix  frowned and shook his head slowly. “You know... That’s something rather strange... When I hired him, he said that he liked Oracle,” he said.

“He said what?” I asked in surprise, my eyes wide. “Why would he tell you that he liked Oracle when he went behind your back and talked horribly about Oracle to Lily on his first case?”

“Sounds to me like something fishy is going on here,” Chrysalis commented with a frown. “ Cotoli  would only bring somebody into the agency if he thought that they were going to be a benefit to the team. Lily, Deirdre, Victoria... You must remember. When you were hired, he asked you what you thought about Oracle. He wouldn’t have brought you into this environment if you didn’t like Oracle since it would be a bad environment for you and everyone else.”

“Yeah, he did ask about that... Why would  Cormous  say that he liked Oracle during the interview and then turn against that instantly once he was put onto a case?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know what his reason could be either,” I murmured.

“I do,” Chrysalis cut in, shaking her head. “He wanted to get into the agency to feed his own twisted desires, and if he had to lie in order to reach his goals, then he was going to. You can’t tell me that people like that don’t exist. They most certainly do. He thought it would benefit his goals, and even if it made him lie, he was going to get into the agency.”

“So, at least for right now, we’ve all come to a conclusive agreement about what happened involving the traitor... I don’t like the idea of  Cormous  turning against us either, but I feel like it’s the most likely explanation given what we know at the moment,” Lily muttered.

“This isn’t us just trying to pin it on him to get everything to go back to normal. We want to be safe rather than together, though if we can be safe and together, that’s even better,” I explained, feeling like it was important to point that out. 

I mean, I was sure that there were some people who would find it nice and fishy that we were just bringing up this possibility about  Cormous  after he had been found dead, and if somebody thought it was odd, I couldn’t blame them. On top of that, there was the matter of putting words in the mouths of the dead, which was a huge problem. I didn’t want to be that sort of person, but I felt like in this case, it was worth pointing out, no matter how controversial it wound up being.

“I think it’s almost time for us to get in there,” Chrysalis said, conveniently switching the subject as she looked up at the clock. She was right, and while I wasn’t sure I appreciated the conversation change, I could tell that she was going to be thinking about it while the trial was going on. Since she didn’t have to worry about doing any actual defending herself, she would have more time to think things over.

“You have a point,” I agreed with a small nod. I didn’t want to get in there if it meant that we would have to stop talking about our traitor theories, but I knew it was a necessary evil at this point. After all, we couldn’t talk about this more in the future if Victoria was behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit. This was just how the cookie had to crumble, and that was something we would just have to live with, and so be it, I suppose.

Lily and I looked to each other briefly before nodding to each other. We knew what we had to do, and it was time to jump right on into it. 

We glanced to Deirdre next, who shot us a small smile. She seemed to be more relaxed now that we had a possible traitor that wasn’t among our ranks. “Good luck, you two,” she told us before following Chrysalis and Mr. Morix up to the gallery.

Finally, our gaze settled on Victoria. “You’re going to be fine,” I said once I had made eye contact with her. “We’re going to make sure that you get out of this okay, no matter what.”

Victoria nodded with a nervous smile. “I trust you... Well, let’s get this over with.”

And with that said, we made our way into the courtroom, ready for whatever hell awaited us inside.

** April 24 **

** Courtroom  ** ** No. 5 **

** 10 ** ** :0 ** ** 0 ** **  AM **

** Lily Shield **

When we arrived in the courtroom, the first thing I did was look across the area to see who we would be facing off against. I frowned to myself upon realizing that our opponent was a team of not just two, but three. This was probably going to be aggravating...

My older brother was one of them. Robbie had his arms crossed as he stood on the far right of the trio. In the middle was Prosecutor Lin, who seemed the most prepared to be there. As usual, she was chipper and bright about what was going on, ready to go. On the far left, there was Prosecutor Cruz. He didn’t particularly look happy about being here, and I could already tell that he would much rather be somewhere else,  preferably  the scene of the first murder trying to figure out who had killed his  father.  It didn’t take a genius to say that.

The judge sitting atop the central podium was none other than one Eriko Frost. She grabbed her gavel and hit it against the bench before her one time to get everybody in the room to fall silent. Once  quiet  reigned supreme over the courtroom, she spoke. “Court is now in session for the trial of Victoria von Graye. Are the defense and prosecution ready?” she asked, getting right down to business in a serious manner as she usually did. I wasn’t at all surprised by this action.

“The prosecution is ready,” Robbie announced quickly before the other two could speak. Seeing him and Prosecutor Cruz together, even if they were separated, reminded me of something from the past... It was my case on the lake, the one I had taken on with Chrysalis the year prior. They had been the prosecutors on that case too, supposedly to help them get along better. However, that didn’t wind up working... Perhaps the same applied here, but instead of just leaving them to work out their problems, Prosecutor Lin was going to mediate and ensure they didn’t start punching each other at any point.

They just had very different work ethics. I can’t really get mad at them for that. However, I doubted there would be any fighting this time around, to be perfectly honest. Prosecutor Cruz was only in on this case because he thought it might help him figure out who killed his father, so he wouldn’t be quite as likely to pick fights. Prosecutor Lin was more of a cautionary presence, just to make sure that neither one of them acted out despite it being pretty much set in stone that they weren’t going to fight.

“The defense is also ready,” I said, the words spilling out effortlessly and without any real input from me. Was I really ready? Probably not, but if the prosecution could lie about being prepared, then I could too.

We hadn’t been given much time to investigate, but they had even less time. Since the crime came so suddenly, and at a time when the office was already in chaos, it took a while to get things sorted. I really didn’t understand why we had to have the trial the day after the crime given how much of a mess everything was. There was no real other way to describe the situation aside from just... Messy, and it  was  an accurate word, to say the least.

“Please give your opening statement, prosecution,” Judge Frost said simply, not bothered at all by the trio of  clearly tense  prosecutors standing on one side of her courtroom. 

Prosecutor Lin wound up being the first one to speak up, picking up a small paper and reading from it. However, I got the feeling she was more of looking to the page for notes as opposed to just reading from it. “The crime took place yesterday morning at the Prosecutor’s Office. The victim of the crime was one  Cormous Arme , a local defense attorney who happened to work at  Morix  Law Offices, the same agency that the defense on this case is from. He was found stabbed in the back multiple times with a head injury at the base of his neck from the corner of a small, rectangular object. The prosecution will now submit the autopsy report to the court,” Prosecutor Lin declared, speaking rather easily for somebody that I hadn’t seen in court before. She was pretty good at this public speaking thing, and I wondered  how I  hadn’t clashed with her before.

“What has brought you to believe that the defendant committed the crime?” Judge Frost asked.

“She was found at the scene of the crime when it was discovered what had happened. She was with the body when one of our key witnesses, Prosecutor Elec  Daegana , arrived at the scene. He saw her standing over the body, and he called for help soon after. There was no blood found on her, and her fingerprints were not on the weapon. They actually weren’t anywhere at the scene of the crime,” Prosecutor Lin explained, crossing her arms and explaining such clearly. “She was arrested primarily because she was at the scene when it was discovered. There wasn’t another main reason.”

“What about a potential murder motive?” Judge Frost asked. As far as I could tell, she was just as clueless  on the subject of this  crime, and that was a great way of getting information out of the prosecution since we hadn’t been given any time to talk to them the day before. It was all part of my (not at all) diabolical scheme to free Victoria.

“The motive that we’ve thought up is... Complicated,” Robbie said simply, frowning to himself. He looked to his coworkers with hopes that they’d come up with some way of saying it so that he wouldn’t have to. That’s how I knew that he was as clueless as it got as far as this case was concer ned.

“Don’t waste any time in explaining it then,” Judge Frost insisted.

Prosecutor Lin took in a small breath. “Not long ago, an incident took place at the local prison. A man was murdered after being poisoned. In the aftermath of the case, it was revealed that the culprit was none other than an assassin working with the  Emsthorpe  crime ring. However, that detail isn’t exactly important. Instead, you just need to know what was revealed by the culprit after he was exposed,” she explained.

“The culprit there declared that there was a traitor working at the agency. This threw everything that they had been working for into a state of chaos, and soon after that, they broke up as they attempted to work out whatever had happened involving somebody betraying everyone. However, there was a lot to figure out involving that situation that ultimately leads to this case. The traitor’s identity was unknown, and nobody knew who it was... Which is a bad thing,” Robbie continued.

“We believe that the defendant murdered the victim for suspecting that he was the traitor behind the agency. If he was going to betray his coworkers, it would result in chaos for the others, and that could lead to death and destruction. We believe that if she did kill the victim, it would be because she was trying to defend the other people in the agency to ensure that none of them were harmed by this traitor,” Prosecutor Lin explained. “If he was the traitor, she could be the killer.”

“I see... Well, go on and call your first witness. The sooner, the better,” Judge Frost said. 

“The prosecution calls the lead detective to the stand,” Prosecutor Cruz announced. He pointed to the witness stand, but the action was lifeless and lacked any heart. It made my stomach drop to see him that way.

Detective Erikson appeared at the stand not long after, one hand resting vacantly on the podium. He looked to the prosecution, waiting for them to prompt him further.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Robbie declared, his eyes narrowed. I could tell that he wasn’t trying to look angry, but it was rather just a product of the stressful situation brought on by getting next no time to investigate.

“Name’s Toby Erikson. I’m a homicide detective at the local precinct, and I’m the leader on this case,” Detective Erikson replied, sticking his other hand loosely into his pocket. 

“Please testify about the forensics reports regarding the case. There are two: the autopsy report and the fingerprint analysis,” Prosecutor Lin instructed, tacking on the second bit as an explanation for those that hadn’t been on the scene of the investigation the day before. “He’ll be going over both of them in detail since they’ll be important to figuring out the truth behind this case.”

Detective Erikson nodded. “Of course. I’ll get right into it,” he replied. He took a deep breath before launching into his testimony shortly after.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ The Forensics Reports ~ **

_ “The victim was stabbed many times in the back, which resulted in his death.” _

_ “He was hit on the back of the head after dying, and we believe the weapon in such was the bomb.” _

_ “A bomb was at the scene of the crime, but it was destroyed from the inside.” _

_ “A knife had been pushed inside to cut the wires, which was obviously an amateur job.” _

_ “The bomb was found next to the body, busted and unused.” _

_ “The victim’s fingerprints were found on the surface of the bomb and the remote used to explode it.” _

_ “The bomb never went off, I’m afraid, and we don’t know who could have planted it there to begin with.” _

After listening to the testimony, I nodded to myself. “I see... Should we start our cross-examination?” I asked of Judge Frost, trying to keep my voice from shaking due to how nervous and hesitant I was.

Judge Frost nodded, not seeming to have caught onto my fear. If she did notice it, she didn’t comment on it. “Go right ahead,” she said instead simply.

I already had an idea as to where I wanted to go with this testimony, but I really didn’t know what it would lead to after this was over. It would cause some deliberation, sure, but it would be a bit of a mess if this didn’t go over well. It would have implications that I wasn’t sure of, and my stomach turned into a knot at the mere thought. 

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ The Forensics Reports ~ **

_ “The victim was stabbed many times in the back, which resulted in his death.” _

_ “He was hit on the back of the head after dying, and we believe the weapon in such was the bomb.” _

_ “A bomb was at the scene of the crime, but it was destroyed from the inside.” _

_ “A knife had been pushed inside to cut the wires, which was obviously an amateur job.” _

_ “The bomb was found next to the body, busted and unused.” _

_ “The victim’s fingerprints were found on the surface of the bomb and the remote used to explode it.” _

_ “The bomb never went off, I’m afraid, and we don’t know who could have planted it there to begin with.” _

“Hold it!”

I swallowed back my nerves and looked up at Detective Erikson nervously. “I... I have an idea as to who put the bomb in the lobby of the office,” I declared, hoping my voice didn’t waver.

“Then, by all means, continue,” Prosecutor Lin said.

I could see Prosecutor Cruz’s hands grow tense from their place near the bench. His fingers dug into the wood, and his expression changed into something unrecognizable. His eyes were still hidden behind his sunglasses, but the rest of his face had morphed into anger, plain and simple. Just as I expected, my bringing this up was going to cause something of a mess, and I had no idea what to do about it.

“What if the victim was the one who set up the bomb in the lobby of the Prosecutor’s Office?” I asked cautiously and slowly. 

I really didn’t know how people were going to respond to such an accusation. In all honesty, my choice to propose such a thing was fueled by the conversation I had shared with the other members of the agency out in the lobby. If we hadn’t discussed the possibility of  Cormous  being the traitor, I wouldn’t have been led to such a conclusion. I didn’t even know if this was true, and I didn’t know if I wanted it to be or not. 

Prosecutor Cruz clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it onto the bench before him. “What?” he asked, his voice an intense snarl. “What did that monster do?”

I swallowed back my nerves, trying to remind myself that he was just a man, and a good man at that. He wasn’t going to randomly lunge across the courtroom to try and kill me for bringing up that possibility. In fact, this would do more to help him figure out what happened to his father rather than harm the case he had been constructing, so he had no reason to get mad at me.... Right? I had to keep telling myself that to make sure that I didn’t wimp out halfway through explaining my reasoning.

“I think there’s a chance that this is true,” I managed to say. “There were no other fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, belonging to the defendant or otherwise. If he was the only one there up until the culprit arrived, there is a chance that he was the one to plant the bomb. I can’t say his reasoning for doing such a thing, but whatever it was, he must have been pretty determined it was the right thing to do... Though if you ask me, the motive for doing such a thing had to be incredibly twisted and horrible.”

Judge Frost slammed her gavel against the podium before her. In my moment of hesitation to explain what I thought about the situation, I hadn’t even realized that the gallery had begun to buzz with chatter. She frowned and let out a harsh sigh. “If this is true, that will change the foundation of this case quite a bit... Anybody who places a bomb in a busy building like that cannot be stable.”

“Do you really think  Cormous  did that?” Yuri asked me quietly, speaking up for the first time since the trial began. She looked ready to run out of the courtroom, perhaps to find somewhere that she could think this through, and I couldn’t blame her at all.

“I don’t know,” I admitted softly, shaking my head slightly. “I really couldn’t tell you, and I don’t even know if I want to hear the answer at this point... Here’s to hoping that this isn’t true...”

Deep down, I think part of me already knew how this was going to go. I just didn’t want it to be true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update was supposed to be a bonus for next weekend but it came out early so nice
> 
> -Digital


	35. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 5

** April 24 **

** Courtroom No. 5 **

** 10:45 AM **

** Lily Shield **

“What did you hear about the fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, defense?” Judge Frost asked once everybody in the courtroom had calmed down. I could sense the intensity in her gaze without even looking up at her, and I swallowed nervously. Now wasn’t the time to back down. If I had an idea of where this was going, then I was going to have to follow through with it. We wouldn’t get anywhere if I tried to keep the truth from coming out, so all we could do was face it, no matter how painful it was. I didn’t want to believe that  Cormous  was planning to betray us, but it was the only thing I could think of at this point.

“I know that there was one set of fingerprints found at the scene of the crime. It was the same set found on both the bomb and the remote that would have been used to detonate said explosive. If the fingerprints on both of those belonged to him, then he must have had a reason to handle the objects, and if you ask me, no normal person would just walk up to a bomb like that and try to get inside of it to dismantle it. It would only increase the chances of an explosion, which would kill not just him, but rather everybody in the building. Even in a moment of panic and adrenaline, no sane person would do such a thing like dismantle it... Which leads me to believe that these fingerprints didn’t come from him trying to dismantle it,” I explained.

“So, if he did commit a crime like planting a bomb inside of the Prosecutor’s Office, then his killer might have done something great. They could have saved countless lives,” Robbie murmured. “I’m not trying to defend the killer or anything. We don’t know enough about them now to come to a given conclusion, but it’s something odd to think about.”

“There’s one other thing that I noticed at the scene of the crime,” Yuri suddenly piped up. “It’s about the bomb, actually. When we got to the scene and could look around, I got the chance to look inside the bomb, even if it was from a distance... There was blood on the inside of the bomb, and the only blood I could see at the scene of the crime was from the victim.”

“So, the bomb was cut from the inside out after the victim was killed. That’s the only way that his blood could have gotten on the inside of the bomb as far as I’m aware...” Prosecutor Lin murmured. “But that begs the question once again of why somebody would cut the bomb up using the knife. No matter how freaked out you were, everybody should know not to try and destroy a bomb on their own since that could cause a communication issue inside of the bomb that would set it off.”

“Why did the killer do such a thing then?” I asked. “I can’t imagine why they would think that’s a good idea... That’s just my issue with it on the matter. Even if the killer thought it was for the best, then what could possibly lead them to thinking that?”

“The killer obviously didn’t have the best skills in decision making, but I don’t know how we’re going to use that to track them down. Anybody can be reckless, depending on what kind of person they are. How do we figure out who did this when all we know is that they stabbed the victim violently and cut a bomb until it broke by busting it open,” Prosecutor Lin replied, placing one hand on her chin.

“The culprit certainly has a problem with their head... At the very least, that’s what I think. I don’t know what that problem could be, but something is going on,” Yuri commented, shaking her head. “Oh! Here’s something important we haven’t talked about yet. Did anybody get into the Prosecutor’s Office on the day of the crime that shouldn’t have been there? I know there was a police investigation going on there, meaning it would be much harder for somebody to sneak inside to do something like commit murder.”

“If somebody on the police force committed this crime, we wouldn’t be here,” Prosecutor Cruz suddenly spoke up bluntly. “They would  be seen as  honorable for striking down the victim, who they assumed to be planting a bomb.”

“He has a point, I must admit. If the victim was killed by a police officer, then the crime wouldn’t have gone to court to begin with. The case would be labeled as justified self-defense since if the victim didn’t die, then the Prosecutor’s Office would have blown up. Anybody who was in the office at the time and saw him would have a potential reason to kill him as well. If they thought there was a risk behind what he was doing, they may try to apprehend him, and if he resisted, things could go sour,” Prosecutor Lin continued to say.

“You have a point there... If things went downhill, then a prosecutor might wind up killing him thinking their own life was in danger... But again, that raises the same question as with the police officers. If a prosecutor committed this crime, I’m sure it would  be seen as  justified since they were defending innocent people who could have easily died if things went sour. And yet, nobody stepped forward. They’re risking their careers by hiding it, which seems odd when they wouldn’t face consequences to begin with. They would be seen as a hero,” I murmured with a small frown.

“Exactly... That’s such an odd thing to think about, but I know that it’s the truth,” Yuri said softly. “I don’t know what to do about it though. What kind of prosecutor wouldn’t know the law that they work to uphold? It doesn’t make any sense! That’s like a competitive swimmer who can only doggy paddle!”

“If a prosecutor did commit this crime, then that changes the way that this case will function greatly,” Judge Frost commented.

“I want to point out though that the possibility of self-defense and killing the victim for trying to cause an explosion may apply to the defendant as well. If she had come into the office to investigate and was met with a man who was trying to blow up the building, she would naturally get defensive. If you saw a man with a bomb, you might try and stop him, assuming you didn’t run away to hide and call for help. Sometimes though, it requires immediate action,” Prosecutor Lin pointed out.

“There were police officers everywhere... It would have been incredibly easy to call for help and take care of the victim without having to resort to murder. Granted, it would have been a bit riskier, but...” Robbie whispered. 

“All I’m hearing here is that the killer is a bit of an enigma. If they were a prosecutor, then why are they trying to hide their crime when they won’t be getting in trouble anyways? If they’re a police officer, why haven’t they come forward since they’d just  be seen as  a hero? Regardless of who the culprit is, their perspective on this case changes completely now that we think that the victim was the one trying to set off the bomb,” I declared.

“I don’t understand the killer’s thought process at all... I don’t want to think that  Cormous  committed such a horrible crime as an attempted bombing, but... I think we already know the answer to that situation,” Yuri told me with a small frown. “I don’t know why he would want to blow up the Prosecutor’s Office, but whatever his reasoning, it couldn’t have possibly been worth potentially forfeiting countless lives of not only the workers in this office, but the investigators who were trying to solve the previous case that took place here.”

“If  Cormous  really did try to blow up the building, then... That changes everything,” I told Yuri nervously. “Suddenly, the traitor is clear as day. I didn’t want to believe that he was the traitor when we were talking out in the defendant’s lobby. I was merely supporting the possibility that he could be involved with the traitor situation, but... I don’t like that it wound up being true. It makes too much sense given the way that he acts, but that doesn’t mean I want to believe it.”

“Yeah... If  Cormous  is the traitor, then why in the world would he want to blow the place  up?  He must have had his reasons for wanting such a thing, but I can’t imagine that it would be worth it... Nobody spoke to him after he left the agency back when we split up after the  Emsthorpe  case. He could have been getting up to anything, and we wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it,” Yuri said.

“I don’t know what to do with this information... Like we already said, the culprit should have come forward by now to say that they committed this crime. It’s not like they’d get into much trouble for saving lives and killing a terrorist who tried to blow the building up. In fact, they’d  be seen as  a hero for saving countless people from a fiery explosion... I just don’t know what to think of  Cormous  for it. The proof is there to show that he could have done such a thing, but we don’t have a full explanation as of now to make us sure beyond a shadow of a doubt... Of course, his reasoning is still unknown, and it would be important as hell to know the truth about that little detail,” I told her with a sigh.

“I think that’s an important thing to remember for sure, but I don’t know what to do about it either... There  has to  be something for us to use this way, but... It’s all just...” Yuri huffed. “I don’t get it, but I really wish I understood what was happening.”

I looked across the courtroom to the prosecution. “What do you guys think of all of this?” I asked, praying they would have something to say on the matter. Yuri and I weren’t getting anywhere by stumbling around in circles about how we didn’t understand what was going on. We needed somebody to snap us out of it and  actually propose  a theory. Maybe that would actually allow the trial to move on.

Prosecutor Lin looked to her two coworkers and sighed, shrugging lightly. “If I’m perfectly honest, I have no idea. If he did that, he had a reason for it, but until we can figure out that reasoning, then we don’t know what to do about it,” she replied.

“If he wanted to blow up the Prosecutor’s Office, something must have happened within that building to make him angry enough to potentially cause an explosion. I don’t know what could have happened to make him that angry, but it had to be something big. I’d say it even goes beyond that... He must have thought it was a matter of life and death. His reasoning had to be flawed, as any reasoning is if somebody believes countless people need to die for a simple motive,” Prosecutor Cruz grumbled. He was staring blankly down at the desk before him, not saying anything else. 

Robbie looked to him like he was waiting for Prosecutor Cruz to continue talking, but when the man didn’t say anything, Robbie sighed to himself and spoke again. “I don’t know what to do about all of this. I mean, the secret that caused him to do all of this had to be huge, but it’s so big that there aren’t any traces of it left behind at the crime scene. Nobody knows what to do about it,” he said.

Prosecutor Lin raised one hand. “If we don’t know what to do, perhaps we should move on and call another witness. After all, we have somebody who was at the scene of the crime, and she can help us to figure out what to do from here. Her testimony is sure to be incredibly valuable,” she said.

“Go on and call your witness. We don’t have the evidence  at the moment  to figure out what the victim’s reasoning was for trying to blow up the building, so we might as well pursue a different line of reasoning,” Judge Frost declared.

Prosecutor Lin nodded her agreement. “The prosecution calls Niamh Wood to the witness stand.”

“Looks like this is it... Our first actual witness for this case... And we don’t know what to do about it,” Yuri sighed, shaking her head. “We don’t know what could have happened to her while she was asleep, and if it was really bad, then we’re in trouble... What if this is our crucial clue? What if this is what we need?”

I shrugged, watching as Prosecutor Wood took the witness stand. “All we can do is try to find a way to move on with our lives and do something about it,” I said simply.

“Please state your name and occupation for the court,” Prosecutor Lin announced, her voice taking on a kinder tone than I expected it to. Soon after this thought went through my head, I remembered that Prosecutor Lin was still a mother, and any mother worth their salt should care for their child.

“Niamh Wood... Um... I’m a prosecutor at the local Prosecutor’s Office,” Prosecutor Wood replied, though I could tell that she was trying to keep her voice from shaking openly. I felt a pang of sympathy for her deep in my chest. Poor thing.

“Please tell the court about what you saw at the time of the crime,” Judge Frost instructed simply, her tone far different from Prosecutor Lin’s, even if it wasn’t fully harsh.

Prosecutor Wood nodded slowly. “Yes... Yes, of course. I’ll get right to it.” Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence, but she didn’t pause to comment on it. Instead, she pressed on like nothing was wrong.

** ~ Witness Testimony ~ **

** ~ What I Saw ~ **

_ - _ _ “I was on my way out of the Prosecutor’s Office to testify at the trial for the other murder at the office...” _

_ - _ _ “However, I was stopped when I heard some noises, and I looked around for the source.” _

_ - _ _ “I-I saw the victim, curled over a small object with a k-knife in his hand...!” _

_ - _ _ “My vision went dark, and I think I passed out... I don’t know how long I was asleep.” _

_ - _ _ “When I woke up, I was in another part of the office, and the jacket I was wearing one the way out was gone.” _

_ - _ _ “I don’t remember anything from the time of the murder... It’s all a blur in my head...” _

“How strange... I wonder what could have caused your memory to suddenly fade in that moment,” Judge Frost commented. “Defense, are you ready for your cross-examination?”

I turned to Yuri with a frown. “I really don’t know what to make of all this... What are we supposed to do with a testimony like that? It’s not like we have anything that can prove what happened to her at the time of the murder... There’s nothing at the crime scene that shows what she was doing, and there’s nothing anywhere else either,” I hissed to her, unable to answer Judge Frost just yet.

“Even if you don’t have any ideas, it might not be a bad plan to just think of a possibility. Given the circumstances, I feel like the court will be a lot more open to entertaining theories right now. We don’t have much of anything to go off, so we might as well try to do something that might advance our case, even if we don’t have any specific ideas in mind,” Yuri suggested.

I nodded slowly. “That does sound like a good idea, but I don’t know what to do there either,” I admitted.

“Then just think of something! What could she have done at the time of the crime?” Yuri asked. “How did she get from the crime scene to the upper floor where she woke up later in the day? We were talking yesterday and said that the killer probably wouldn’t  have  done such a thing, so if our killer didn’t then who in the world did?”

“Defense, are you ready to start?” Judge Frost questioned again, cutting off Yuri and I’s brief conversation.

I nodded at the sudden question, trying to pull a plan together in my head despite everything being a blur in my moment of panic. “Of course,” I said, hoping nobody could tell how nervous and unsettled I was. “I’ll get right into it, if that’s alright with you.”

“Feel free to go on,” Judge Frost told us simply, watching us expectantly.

I looked up to Prosecutor Wood and gestured gently for her to continue. She nodded slowly before letting out a shaky sigh, and a few seconds later, she started to repeat her testimony as the cross-examination began.

** ~  ** ** Cross-Examination ** **  ~ **

** ~ What I Saw ~ **

_ - _ _ “I was on my way out of the Prosecutor’s Office to testify at the trial for the other murder at the office...” _

_ - _ _ “However, I was stopped when I heard some noises, and I looked around for the source.” _

_ - _ _ “I-I saw the victim, curled over a small object with a k-knife in his hand...!” _

_ - _ _ “My vision went dark, and I think I passed out... I don’t know how long I was asleep.” _

_ - _ _ “When I woke up, I was in another part of the office, and the jacket I was wearing one the way out was gone.” _

_ -“ _ _ I don’t remember anything from the time of the murder... It’s all a blur in my head...” _

“Hold it!”

“So, you’re positive that you don’t remember anything at this point?” I asked. Part of me was hoping that she’d suddenly declare that she remembered something, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen in these circumstances.

Prosecutor Wood nodded slowly, but I could tell she really wanted to say something else that would  help out  the case more. “No... Everything in my head is blank after I fell unconscious at the crime scene...” she replied.

“Well, you might not know what happened to you, but there’s something that definitely happened I can think of that I would call important,” I told her.

“And what would that be, defense?” Judge Frost questioned.

“She fell unconscious in the area near the stairs in the lobby of the office, but when she next came to, she was a few floors above that in a hallway that she didn’t remember moving herself to. If you ask me, this indicates that she moved herself while she was asleep... So, I have to wonder if she really fell asleep at all,” I declared.

“If she didn’t fall asleep, then what in the world do you propose happened to her?” Prosecutor Lin asked, clearly taken aback by the suggestion. “You have to have that in mind, right?”

I was just firing off ideas at this point, but if I was already this deep in, I might as well keep going, right? “The defense wishes to propose the possibility that she merely blacked out and did not fall unconscious completely,” I announced.

“You think that she was still up and running around, but her mind just stopped registering what was happening, causing her to forget what was going on as soon as it happened,” Robbie said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “What do you think could have caused this?”

“The witness saw something sharp at the scene of the crime, and she blacked out as a result, trying to forget the memory. Of course, this didn’t erase the sight of the knife at all, instead only making it so that she couldn’t remember what happened in the minutes that followed the incident. During this point, she moved herself from the lobby to the bench a few floors up,” I explained.

“What makes you so sure that she moved herself? The killer could have done it,” Prosecutor Cruz pointed out.

“If the killer had done it, then wouldn’t they have tried to kill her instead of just moving her to an alternate location? After all, that would fully get rid of any potential witnesses instead of leaving somebody around to expose their crime,” I replied.

“But if the killer did this in self-defense, they wouldn’t have to kill any witnesses. After all, they’d have a justified motive, meaning they wouldn’t need to hide away. They could have just moved her so she wouldn’t be traumatized by the situation. This is assuming she was really unconscious,” Prosecutor Cruz said.

“The killer hasn’t shown any signs of being friendly up to this point... In fact, the culprit is hiding from their crime even now, which tells me that they don’t want to come forward for some reason. They wouldn’t face any consequences for coming forward in this case since it would have saved many lives. If they still don’t want everybody to know about their crime, they would have gotten rid of the sole person who could reveal the truth to the world,” I told him.

“What I’m hearing is that we don’t have anything conclusive yet,” Judge Frost suddenly cut in. “I think it’s time that we end this back-and-forth for the day. It isn’t getting us anywhere. Perhaps we should end today’s session in court and break for investigation. Tomorrow, we can come back together and talk more about what was found over the few extra hours I’m providing you.”

“I agree,” I nodded. I had been grasping at straws before, and I was lucky it wound up going in my favor. It sure as hell wasn’t my plan to resort to such means, but if I had to, then that was just how the case would have to turn out for now.

“The prosecution has no objections,” Prosecutor Lin announced after looking over the two men she was standing between. “In fact, we didn’t have much time to investigate this case yesterday, so we would benefit greatly from a chance to look over the building where the murder took place, Your Honor.”

Judge Frost nodded to herself, closing her eyes gently. “Well, if there are no further objections, I’m happy to adjourn court for the day. Over the next few hours, I need you all to investigate how this witness traveled from the lobby to the bench a few floors above where the crime took place. Any further evidence regarding the victim’s attempt to cause an explosion would be greatly appreciated, and we can use everything that is found,” she announced.

“We’ll be sure that nothing gets away from us. We’re going to find everything that we have to in order to solve this case,” I declared. I didn’t think I was going to be jumping immediately into investigation, instead starting to think about what I could do to find the truth about  Cormous . After all, I had more than a few questions regarding him, and I wasn’t going to let them go unanswered for any longer.

“The prosecution is going to find everything that comes up as well,” Prosecutor Lin confirmed, looking up at Judge Frost with a glint of determination in her eyes. Her other hand rested gently on the bench before her. The men on either side of her remained silent.

“Since we’re all in agreement, court is adjourned for the day,” Judge Frost announced. She picked up her gavel simply and hit it against the podium before her, prompting chatter to begin. I gathered my evidence and left the courtroom alongside Yuri, ready to start the day’s theorizing.

** April 24 **

** Defendant Lobby  ** ** No. 5 **

** 1 ** ** 1: ** ** 30 ** **  AM **

** Yuri Rinko **

“Normally, this would be the time where I say something snarky about the fact that we got out alive, but I think I’m going to hold off on it for now,” I said after arriving out in the lobby. “I think I have an idea, but I definitely don’t like it.”

“There’s something I want to say too,” Lily told me. “I think that  Cormous  gave us a false name when he was employed at the agency. Somehow, I doubt that  Cormous Arme  is his actual name given the circumstances.”

I swallowed nervously. “As much as I hate to admit it, I was thinking the same thing... It would explain why he can’t be channeled. He’s so clearly dead. If he was going to betray us at the end of his mission, he wouldn’t just give us his real name. That would be a recipe for disaster on his part, and it would certainly lead to his arrest. However, if he gave us an alias, then it would be much easier to fade back into the woodwork once he was finished with whatever he was tasked with doing at the agency.”

“I can’t believe him... This is ridiculous...” Lily sighed, shaking her head. “I think we should talk to the others about what we’ve figured out. Even if this is just a theory  at the moment , I feel like there’s a pretty decent chance that it’s true. I can’t think of a universe where it wouldn’t be true, even if we just came up with the idea a little bit ago.”

Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis approached us not long after she said this. Mr.  Morix  glanced over the two of us with a small frown. “Chrysalis and I are going to go on ahead to the Prosecutor’s Office. There are a few things we want to take care of. Deirdre said that she’s going with Victoria to the detention center again, so we can meet up in a few hours like we did yesterday. After we’re all finished, we can share what we’ve learned and hope it points us in the right direction,” he said.

“Sounds good to me,” I nodded. “We’ll see you later.”

With that said, Mr.  Morix  and Chrysalis walked away, leaving me and Lily alone once again. I looked up at her. “So, if we’re going to start our investigation, we might as well head on over there... We don’t have a moment to waste. I refuse to let this be the second case where the killer goes free. I know we weren’t on the previous case at the Prosecutor’s Office, I feel obligated to solve this,” I told her.

Lily nodded her agreement. “Let’s go on and take care of business then. No point in standing around here and talking when there’s work to be done,” she answered.

With that said, we started for the door, off to kick off our investigation for the day, even if we had no idea where it would take us.

** April 24 **

** Prosecutor’s Office **

** 12 ** ** : ** ** 00 ** **** ** P ** ** M **

** Unknown Perspective **

I had just arrived back at the Prosecutor’s Office after spending most of my morning at the courthouse watching the trial. As soon as I got there, I flopped back onto a bench on one of the upper floors, trying not think about all that had just happened. I didn’t really feel safe in this building anymore, but I didn’t have a choice aside from endure whatever the remainder of the murder case had to throw at me. It was aggravating, but what else could I do?

I looked around the hallway where the bench was stationed, trying to see if there was something, anything, interesting I could look at. I was partially bored, not that I would openly admit it. I didn’t want to get in trouble for thinking such about the trial, especially since some prosecutors could take that as an insult.

My eyes eventually settled upon something sticking out from the wall. It took me a moment to realize that it was a hook, and my gaze fell to the floor underneath said hook soon after. I realized that the hook was meant to keep a painting on the wall, but the painting had fallen over in the chaos of the past few days.

Normally, I would do something to try and put the painting back in its proper place, but I found myself unable to. The hook was so sharp. It was too sharp. If I got too close, it could slice my finger open. Even from where I was sitting, this far away, I could feel my breath growing short as I started to hyperventilate. I wanted that thing to go away, to leave my vision, to let me be, and I had only just noticed it.

I don’t really know what came over me in the seconds that followed, but I leaned over against the  bench  so I was laying down. I closed my eyes, trying to ground myself and keep from losing my mind fully. I didn’t want to cause a panic over something as simple as a hook for a painting. I wasn’t going to draw that much negative attention to myself. 

I focused on taking deep breaths, but in the end, it didn’t do much of anything to help me, and I could feel myself getting lightheaded. In fact, the whole room was spinning, and I suddenly had the urge to throw up.

However, I didn’t have the energy to get up and do such a thing, so I remained where I was. Since I was so short of oxygen, my body couldn’t force itself to stay conscious despite my brain screaming at it to stay awake. Unable to do much else, I let my eyes slowly slip closed, and the world faded away to black as I gave into the darkness of my own mind.

At least I wasn’t looking at that hook anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this really quick before I go off to a dinner okay bye
> 
> -Digital


	36. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 6

**April 24**

**Prosecutor's Office**

**12** **:1** **0 P** **M**

**Yuri Rinko**

When we got back to the Prosecutor's Office, I immediately learned that the body we had spent so much time looking into the day before was now gone, though I couldn't really tell you where it had gone... However, when I realized that nobody at the scene of the crime was panicking, it became clear to me that the forensics team had probably taken it to do their next step of investigating. It felt odd to see so much blood on the floor with no source in sight, but that was probably for the best since I didn't think I wanted to see a body that was starting to decompose... In fact, that just sounded straight up terrifying, so it's definitely best that they took the corpse away.

Lily didn't seem to know what we wanted to do after we arrived either. We had to investigate to see if we could find out more about the unconsciousness situation involving Prosecutor Wood, but I don't think either one of us really knew where to start. I knew for sure that I was as good as clueless on the matter. Unless she had some sort of miraculous idea, then all we could do was wander around and pray that we found something that would wind up being helpful to us in the long run, which was nowhere near being an effective way to carry out a murder investigation, as I'm sure you would imagine.

"Maybe we should try and find Prosecutor Wood again," Lily finally suggested. "I can't think of much else for us to do... If she's going to be the main person we're cross-examining tomorrow, we might as well see if she's remembered anything since we first met up with her, even if I highly doubt that'll be the case."

"Prosecutor Daegana might have something to help us out with finding the truth. After all, he was at the scene of the crime... He saw Victoria with the body. Besides, with how fishy he's been behaving, he has to be hiding something, and the sooner we can figure out what that something is, the better. It will help us out for sure," I said.

"Speaking of Prosecutor Daegana, there he is," Lily told me, suddenly much quieter. She pointed over my shoulder to a figure walking silently through the area.

"He was so quiet that I didn't even realize he was there," I admitted, shaking my head. "Let's go and talk to him. He's not going to be getting away with this when he's hiding something from us."

Lily and I walked slowly over to Prosecutor Daegana, and he stopped when we got near him. "What is it that you want?" he asked, not even bothering to turn and face us. It seemed that he was much better at staying quiet than we would ever be, which didn't surprise me. He had much more to hide than us, so of course he would need to know how to go unnoticed.

"We want to talk to you about what happened at the time of the crime," I replied, frowning deeply. "We aren't going to let you get away this time, you know. You may have gotten away with not telling us much last time we talked, but that's not going to be happening again. We want to know everything that you know."

Prosecutor Daegana paused, thinking about something, before speaking again. He was much softer than I originally anticipated. "Do you really think the victim is the one who planted the bomb?" he asked. I could hear the frown in his voice, even if his mask was in the way of me seeing his actual face.

I looked to Lily, and we met eyes for a moment. As much as we hated to admit it, the possibility that Cormous had planted the bomb was seeming much more plausible than we had expected in the beginning. We looked back to Prosecutor Daegana and nodded in sync.

Prosecutor Daegana hesitated for a moment, looking downwards, before gesturing for us to follow him. He took us to the elevator, and we went up a few floors until we were on the same level as his office. He led us into his office, and he opened the door easily before gesturing for us to enter once again.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't at all suspicious of this. He randomly invited us into his office after making it seem like he wasn't going to be telling us anything crucial at all, which was enough to set off my nervous instincts. Even so, I didn't show this at all, and I sat down in one of the two chairs facing his desk. Lily took the other one, and we looked to Prosecutor Daegana, who sat down behind his desk.

Prosecutor Daegana turned to his side and began to rustle through his drawers, pulling out a small stack of paper. He began to sift through it before removing a smaller pile from the larger stack. I found it fishy that he had pulled out one pile before getting a smaller one out, and while I didn't audibly comment on it, I did raise an eyebrow, my suspicions clear as day. 

"This is something that was given to me by Prosecutor Luis Cruz... Well, I say it was given to me. I took it from his office after he passed away," Prosecutor Daegana told us. "He told me that if anything happened to him, I was to take this paperwork and find the best possible hiding place for it. He was investigating a few assassins working with the Emsthorpe crime ring, you see... I believe that the victim in this case is the assassin that he was trying to hide this information from in the first place. His motive for the bombing only makes sense to me if I can fit it in with this situation... Granted, there's no real evidence of this motive since the police have no ideas, meaning this is all speculation, but... Whatever."

"Assassin?" I echoed, my eyes going wide. "You can't be serious. You really think that Cormous is an assassin who got involved with the Emsthorpe crime ring? That's ridiculous. He would never do anything like that..."

"You thought that, but then he planted a bomb in the Prosecutor's Office. I believe that there's all sorts of possibilities as to the truth at this point," Prosecutor Daegana pointed out. As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point there, and I swallowed dryly, looking down at my lap and falling silent.

"I want to hear everything that you think is true involving this situation. Immediately," Lily cut in, doing the stern bit much more successfully than I ever could have. "You seem to know a lot more than you let on to the general public, and since you've invited us in here, you must want to say something... So go on. Don't hold anything back, Prosecutor Daegana."

Prosecutor Daegana, surprisingly enough, nodded. "Of course... Though I'm not going to lie and say that you're going to like this. You won't. In fact, it will only confirm the suspicions that you brought up during the trial. You didn't want to believe it, but you'll have to after hearing what I have to say... And yet, you're here, wanting to learn more, so I highly doubt that you'll be turning your back against me now. It's a little late for second thoughts now, wouldn't you say?"

Lily and I looked at each other for a moment before turning our attention back to him. As much as we hated to admit it, he had a point about us not wanting to turn back now. We had to hear what he had to say if we wanted to solve this case. Lily seemed to pick up on my thoughts regarding this, as she turned to Prosecutor Daegana with a solemn expression before gesturing for him to continue speaking.

The man picked up on it easily. "Cormous Arme is not Cormous Arme. This name is not real. It never was, and it never will be. It was an alias crafted by the Emsthorpe crime ring as a way of concealing the true identity of one of its members. The true identity of this assassin is still unknown, but I can guarantee that he was the one who killed the victim in the previous case. In fact, I could set up the perfect scenario of what happened for you right now," Prosecutor Daegana told us. 

"You... How do you know about all of this?" I asked. "I mean, we knew that you had picked up on something that we weren't aware of, but this is not what I expected to hear about... Pardon my bluntness, but I find it rather odd that you're suddenly just able to claim that you knew all of this all along."

"All the information is here in this stack of files. It was compiled by Luis Cruz in the weeks leading up to his death. He was suspecting that the Emsthorpe ring was active again, and sure enough, he was correct. He realized something was wrong, and he proved such easily, not that he could go public with his suspicions. He kept all of this secret, but each piece of evidence is documented in these files. His investigation led to his demise, as the Emsthorpe ring then called for his death. Now, if you're finished interrupting me, I'll tell you what happened in the first murder to take place here in the office," Prosecutor Daegana said, his voice tinged ever so slightly with dry sarcasm.

"Sorry," I mumbled, but I really wasn't sorry about anything. He was all talk but no explanation, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I wasn't going to hide that fact anymore... At least, that's what I thought, but instead of actually showing how upset I was, I frowned to myself and stared at my lap in embarrassment and frustration. 

"Luis figured out who Cormous Arme was. He realized that the man was involved with the Emsthorpe ring, but he tried to keep such quiet, as he didn't want to draw the attention of the ring. However, he was discovered regardless due to the wide reach of the Emsthorpe group, and that was when Cormous Arme was sent in to finish the job once and for all. Luis was murdered, but the story doesn't end there. Before his death, he told me to take hold of his files to make sure the Emsthorpe group didn't get their hands on them... I followed his direction and took the papers, but lucky for me, the Emsthorpe ring didn't realize such... I believe that's what led up to this case," Prosecutor Daegana said.

"Wait... Lead up to this case?" Lily echoed, her eyes wide. "What do you mean by that? I mean, I know that the cases are connected, but what sort of link are you proposing here?"

Prosecutor Daegana let his hands rest against the desk in front of him. "The bombing, Ms. Shield. The bomb was planted in the office to begin with because of those files. If the bomb went off, the files would likely be taken down with the building. Anybody who may have known the truth would have died in the resulting explosion, and all evidence of his true crimes would have been erased in the blink of an eye... But he didn't get away with it since the killer appeared and did him in first. His reasoning for planting the bomb was all to keep his identity safe since he was part of the Emsthorpe ring from the start." 

"Are we in danger hearing about this?" I asked, panic suddenly overtaking my voice. I had completely forgot about the danger factor with assassins in hearing about all of this, and it hit me suddenly like a train.

"No... Not anymore. With him dead, the group isn't going to be willing to do much for him. They're somewhat ruthless in that respect. If one of their own dies, the others don't grieve. All they do is move on like nothing happened to continue with their business. His death isn't going to harm us at all. Plus, he was disconnected from the ring for quite some time. I have looked through these files myself, and all of the information within them is from after he started working as part of your agency, playing the part of a mole. There is nothing to connect him to the greater group, and thus, no evidence the whole ring would want to get rid of. Due to how ruthless they are, we are safe to discuss this," Prosecutor Daegana told us.

"Why did you hide all of this until just now then? You must have had some reason for holding back such crucial information," Lily frowned.

"I didn't know for sure who this person was mentioned in the files. You see, Luis never explicitly says who the assassin making waves is. He merely left hints. He didn't want to be found out because he used a name, so he didn't. I didn't realize who he was discussing, so I held back on revealing any crucial information. However, now that we know that the person he was thinking about has been killed... We are free to discuss this information however we wish," Prosecutor Daegana answered.

"The notes were all vague, but you were able to put the pieces together because of our actions in court today," I realized. "Our calling him out allowed you to come forward to tell us the truth of the previous murder that took place here."

Prosecutor Daegana nodded. "Exactly. I must thank you for all that you did today, as it allowed me to reveal the information I had been keeping inside since he was killed. It seems that things have swayed in our favor recently due to the grand reveal from today's courtroom session. I don't know where this case would be if you had not stepped forward to accuse him of planting the bombing. I hope this dispels any doubts you had on the matter. Feel free to look through the files on your own if you would like to read exactly what Luis told me about this," he said.

"Thank you for trusting us enough to say all of this... I really don't know where we'd be without this information. However, I don't think we'd be in a solid condition as far as new knowledge is concerned, which would put us in a tough spot," Lily told him, a small smile on her face. "Is there anything else you would like us to know on the matter of Cormous killing Prosecutor Cruz? More importantly, do you know anything about the killer on the current case who allowed us to speak about these things to begin with?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea as to who this person is who killed the victim. Nobody has any ideas, and I'm part of the 'nobody' party. I wish I could tell you more about them, but I'm afraid I'm clueless," Prosecutor Daegana frowned. "If I had any ideas or theories, you would be the first ones to know, but I'm in the dark fully. I haven't seen even a shred of evidence that points to who the culprit is. The defendant was arrested on circumstantial evidence, meaning she likely didn't even commit this crime."

"You were the one who saw the defendant with the body, yes?" I asked, a thought suddenly springing to mind. "Would you be able to tell us about what happened when you saw Victoria with the body? You called the police from there, if I recall correctly."

"I was the one who did that, yes... I was walking through the lobby when I smelled blood. I rounded the corner and saw that the defendant was standing over the victim, clearly in a panic. She was smart enough to not leave her fingerprints anywhere at the scene of the crime. She was arrested solely because I found her there. If anybody else had found the body first, they would have been accused of the crime. There's not any evidence to point to who committed this crime, meaning the police could have pinned it on just about anybody," Prosecutor Daegana sighed. "Damn police force, always acting without thinking..."

"I see... It sounds like we have our work cut out for us then. I don't like thinking that we'll have to go above and beyond to find the truth behind this case, but what else are we supposed to do? Wait for a wizard to tell us who killed Cormous?" I asked with a shake of my head. "Well... I say Cormous, but... That's not his name. He was lying to us all along because he wanted to infiltrate the agency. I can't believe we didn't see it... Looking back, it seems so obvious. We should have seen it loud and clear when we realized he was lying about his thoughts on Oracle in order to get hired."

"In all fairness, we didn't know that he was lying. I thought he expressed his anti-Oracle sentiments when he got hired, and the fact that he didn't was unknown until we met up as a group to talk about it. There was nothing the past versions of us could have done to know about that little detail, so we shouldn't blame ourselves for it... Still, this is all ridiculous. I can't believe he got away for so long. I sort of want to bring him back from the dead just to slap him, but that would definitely cause more harm than good since the assassins would notice that he was back," Lily told me. "But in a way, this explains quite a bit about what we found out yesterday."

I turned to her and tilted my head slightly. "What are you talking about? What did we learn that hinted at this?" I asked. I didn't remember us talking about anything that would hint at Cormous being the traitor that was hiding within the agency.

"Think about it. Chrysalis tried to channel Cormous, but she couldn't since there was something keeping her from executing the channeling. At the time, we went through the possibilities of why that wouldn't be possible, and one of them was if she didn't have his correct name. As it turns out, she didn't have the right name," Lily realized. "We weren't thinking about that being true until today though. We thought somebody else was just channeling him instead, and if that was the case, we wouldn't have a reason to suspect him... But now, everything is starting to come together in the way we needed."

"Do you have any ideas why he would want to come to your agency to wreak havoc?" Prosecutor Daegana questioned. I could hear the frown in his voice once more. "If he was going to do something as dangerous as an undercover operation, he must have had a compelling reason to do so, as this isn't something somebody can randomly decide to do without thinking of the numerous consequences involved."

I looked up to Lily, praying she would come up with something for us to say in response. She didn't gaze at me in doubt, instead focusing her stare at Prosecutor Daegana solemnly. "We believe he came to the agency with hopes of learning more about the Oracle of the Law. I'm sure you've heard of them. They're a legal spy who infiltrates all sorts of places to find information on corrupt figures before exposing them using the current legal system," she told him.

Prosecutor Daegana nodded. "Of course I know who they are. Everybody knows about Oracle... Though very few are aware of their identity. Unfortunately, if you are here to try and find out the truth behind Oracle, you're looking in the wrong place. I have no ideas as to who the spy could possibly be, so I can't help you at all on that front," he said, shaking his head slightly.

I found it a bit ironic, to be perfectly honest. For once, we were the ones who knew things while he was left in the dark. However, I didn't say anything about this, as we couldn't give any hints that we knew. I did make a mental note to laugh to myself about this later.

"That's alright," Lily assured him. "Don't worry about it at all. Thank you so much for everything you've told us so far, Prosecutor Daegana. It truly does mean a lot that you'd trust us with all this important information. Is there anything else you'd like us to know before we move on with our investigation? We're supposed to talk to Prosecutor Wood after this, and we don't want to keep her waiting for too long."

Prosecutor Daegana looked at us for a moment, hesitating, before he nodded and got out of his chair. "Check to make sure the door is locked," he said firmly.

I found this sudden change of heart somewhat suspicious, but I followed his direction anyways. After I had made sure it was locked, I watched as Prosecutor Daegana walked out from behind his desk. He stepped down off something, but... I couldn't tell what. There was nothing for him to step off as far as I was aware.

That was when I realized he had stepped off his own legs.

I let out a small scream, but Prosecutor Daegana quickly hushed me with a finger to his lips. He suddenly unbuttoned his coat, and as it fell, I realized exactly what about Prosecutor Daegana had been bothering everyone for so long.

He had stepped off stilts. The coat he was wearing hid the transition from feet to stilts. He had been hiding his height all along.

Prosecutor Daegana removed his mask, and a few seconds later, I came to a startling realization. A gasp left my lips, and I bit at the inside of my mouth in a combination of fear, shock, and not knowing what the hell was going on at this point.

Prosecutor Daegana looked just like Anton.

The resemblance was uncanny. It wasn't a coincidence at all. They looked identical aside from their hair colors, as Prosecutor Daegana's was brown while Anton's hair was blonde. It was ridiculous to see, but I knew it was true.

"You look just like Anton!" I cried out. "And you were walking around on stilts the whole time! You look like a little kid! You're barely taller than me!" In my unrestrained surprise, I had forgotten to hold my tongue when insulting somebody who was definitely older than I was.

Prosecutor Daegana sighed, and the pout that appeared on his face looked just like the expression Anton made when he got upset. "I do look like Anton... I'm afraid I don't know quite how that fits into the equation of our lives, but I've been working on trying to find that out for quite some time, I'll have you know. I was walking around on stilts at the request of my mentor. He always said that I wouldn't be taken seriously due to my youthful appearance. You need to hit a certain age in order to get respect around here, you know. Being too young can be your downfall since people believe that you aren't wise enough to understand how to make rational decisions," he said.

"So, you hid your age and acted older to make sure that you got the respect you thought you would need in order to advance as a prosecutor... I see," Lily murmured, placing one hand on her chin as she nodded slightly. "I guess this explains how you could run into that safe without showing any signs of pain..."

"Yes... I'm afraid it does keep me from feeling anything too low down on my 'legs', so I suppose it would make people somewhat suspicious if they saw such a thing taking place," Prosecutor Daegana said softly with a shake of his head. "Regardless, you see before you the real Prosecutor Elec Daegana."

"Wow... I can't believe this... I mean, it makes sense, but it's still shocking," I muttered, looking down at my feet. "Thank you for showing us this. I don't know what it could mean for the future of this case, if it means anything at all, but I bet it means a lot to your personal investigation to have trusted us this much. You don't need to hide anything anymore, I guess..."

"Are you going to stop hiding your true face now?" Lily asked.

Prosector Daegana hesitated. "I'll have to see. A lot has happened here at the Prosecutor's Office recently, and that means I might not have the chance to say anything for quite some time as things go back to normal... It's a choice I have yet to make, but I'll get back to you as soon as I make my decision. How does that sound?" he asked.

I nodded. "That sounds good to me... Wow, I still can't believe that you look like this. It makes sense looking back on it, but I never would have anticipated this to be the twist behind your true identity... I hope you don't find my shock insulting. I don't mean to be harsh at all. It's just... Wow."

"No, I understand completely... I don't think you have any other questions left to ask me. I've told you the truth about the previous case, which I believe you should pass on to your coworkers as soon as possible... The case will take some time to be reopened, though I doubt it will be going to court until this information comes to light. I won't be revealing such until after the present case ends, meaning it will be a while before they find out if you don't tell them," Prosecutor Daegana said.

"We should go and take care of the next part of our investigation anyways. Thank you for everything, Prosecutor Daegana. It really does mean a lot to us," I told him, a small smile on my face. The whole situation was a shock for sure, but I could tell that he was placing a lot of faith in us by saying all that he did. The truth behind his true appearance was unexpected, and it wasn't even prompted, which was just icing on the trust cake as far as I was concerned.

Prosecutor Daegana waved to us as we left his office behind, though we were careful to make sure nobody could see through the door at his true appearance. That would just make unnecessary waves at a time when we couldn't really afford to be distracted by such. We had other things to worry about anyways.

After Lily and I arrived outside the office, I let out a small sigh. "Well, that didn't turn out at all how I expected it to... Granted, I don't really know what I was expecting to begin with, but it certainly wasn't this," I told her with a small shrug. "With that said though, I don't think there's much of a reason for us to stick around here. After all, Prosecutor Wood is still waiting for us. Even if I highly doubt she'll have something to tell us about the crime, we might as well check in on her. The chances of her randomly remembering something that vital are very slim, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to do some investigating into it."

"I agree," Lily nodded. "I wonder what could have caused her to be moved so far across the Prosecutor's Office. The culprit being responsible is a sticky situation because of the issue we talked about in court. The culprit had no reason to hide her from the scene of the crime, just like they had no reason to hide their true identity up to this point... It doesn't make much sense to me, but we have to find some way to work it into our solution of this case... Prosecutor Wood remembering something would really help us out. I mean, it's not like you can remember anything while you're unconscious, but I guess I can hope as much as I want so long as I don't bank on it."

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, I feel the same... Even so, I don't think we really need to stand around here for much longer when there are other things for us to do around the office. It's wasting precious investigative time, which we don't have much of to begin with."

"Plus, we need to drop by the detention center after all this is over... And that involves explaining everything we learned from Prosecutor Daegana," Lily said with a small sigh. "We sure do have a lot on our plate... It probably wasn't the best idea to spend as much time as we did in here talking to Prosecutor Daegana, to be perfectly honest."

"Still, I think we learned a lot of important information during that conversation. Besides, there's nothing we can do about it now, so we can't let it get to us too much. Why regret it when we can just go and see Prosecutor Wood? I feel like talking about it is wasting precious investigative time as well," I pointed out.

Lily laughed at my remark. "I can't deny the truth to that statement. Now, let's be off," she said.

Without any further statements, we left behind Prosecutor Daegana's office. We didn't say anything about what we had learned in the four walls of the prosecutor's individual office, but I feel like that was for the best. After all, the more we thought about Cormous, the more our hearts wanted to break.

At least, that's what I thought of it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I CAN FINALLY SAY THIS
> 
> CORMOUS SMELLS LIKE FEET HE'S STINKY
> 
> -Digital


	37. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 7

**April 24**  

 **Prosecutor’s Office**  

 **1:00 PM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

We didn’t have to search long to find Prosecutor Wood. I suggested that the first place we officially check should be her office, and Yuri agreed without a second thought. We made our way to the room with her name on the plate outside it, and Yuri dashed up to it before knocking her hand firmly against the wood. The sound echoed in the small hallway, and I flinched, praying that nobody could hear us. Was the office always this eerily quiet? 

The door opened to show Prosecutor Wood, but there was something different about her. I couldn’t quite describe it, to be honest. She carried herself with more confidence than she had the last time we saw her. It was quite an impressive shift. She had gone from scurrying everywhere like a frightened animal to standing with her shoulders back and head high. She looked at us with a raised eyebrow. “What do you want?” she asked. Her voice was rougher, and if I hadn’t been looking at her, I wouldn’t have realized it was the same person at all. 

“We were just going to ask you if we could talk more about what happened the day of the crime,” Yuri replied, a small smile on her face. Even in the face of such drastic changes, she was undeterred, which shouldn’t have surprised me, but it still did somehow. She had always been the type to have hope even in the strangest and darkest of times, which meant this was normal for her, but I guess part of my head, probably the instinct that was telling me something was wrong, thought that she would notice what had seemed odd to me. 

Prosecutor Wood looked at us for a moment, and the gaze in her eyes made it look like she had never met us before. Even so, she turned and let us come into the office. She didn’t show any other signs of not knowing us, instead sitting down behind her desk and letting her hands rest on her lap. “What do you want to know specifically?” she asked slowly, like she was almost afraid of what we were going to say in response.  

I looked to Yuri for a moment. She was noticing what I had, thinking something odd was going on. “We were just wondering if you had remembered anything from the time of the crime. “You are kind of our key witness in this case, and if you can remember anything, then we’ll be able to use it to free Victoria,” she responded. 

Prosecutor Wood seemed to realize exactly what we were saying, and she nodded suddenly and quickly/ “Oh, yeah... That. Anything in particular you want to know?”  

I frowned. “What happened? Do you remember it at all?” She was frazzled now, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me. We hadn’t done anything to go against her actively, but she was still getting paler and didn’t seem to understand fully what was going on. 

“Uh... Not really,” Prosecutor Wood replied, though her voice didn’t convince me at all. She was lying about something. 

Just to prove this to myself, I reached one hand up and started to play with the Magatama hanging around my neck. Sure enough, Psyche-Locks clanged into place loudly, securing themselves with chains. I wasn’t shocked to see Locks, but I was surprised at how many of them there were. There were five of them, all shining blood red back at me. It was eerie, to be perfectly honest, though I didn’t know what they could be about. 

Yuri seemed to be able to tell that Prosecutor Wood was lying, even without the help of a Magatama. She nudged me with her shoulder gently, and I looked to her briefly, praying that the message would get across. Something was happening behind the scenes here, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. 

Yesterday, she hadn’t known anything. Prosecutor Wood had said that she was unconscious at the time of the crime after something made her pass out. Back then, there had been no Psyche-Locks, but now, there were five of them. Five was the greatest number of Locks that had ever been seen before, and it was a sign of a great secret that the owner never wanted to speak of. I swallowed nervously. Did we really want to confront something that had five Locks involved? It wasn’t as if we had a choice, but it still gave me a bad feeling. 

Prosecutor Wood waved her hand around in front of her face to get our attention. “Why are you looking at each other like that? Did I say something wrong?” she asked, frowning deeply. She was both completely unaware of what was happening and knowing of what was going on. It was an odd paradox. If I had to describe it, I would say that she had a feeling she knew what was taking place but didn’t want to believe it. Even so, the look on her face was perplexing, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it meant. 

“It’s nothing,” I assured her with a shake of my head. “We were just thinking about something we heard yesterday. That’s all.” 

Judging by the look on her face, Prosecutor Wood didn’t believe us at all. She stared at us nervously, though the anxiety was contained solely to her eyes. The rest of her body didn’t show a hint of fear. It was unnerving, to say the least.  

“What do you remember from the time of the murder? It’s probably best if we get back on subject anyways,” Yuri told her, not willing to show Prosecutor Wood what was going on in her head. If I was being honest, Yuri had definitely made a choice for the best there. 

Prosecutor Wood placed one hand on her chin. “Uh... I remember seeing someone with a knife. They were holding a bomb. I think it was a man. I didn’t know him or anything though. If I did, I would have told you,” she replied. 

That was much more detail than we had gotten the day before. There was such a large gap between the two testimonies that I couldn’t help the audible gasp that escaped my lips. Yuri looked up at me in confusion, not understanding what was happening at all. I felt the same way, though I was hiding it a bit better. 

“Why are you two looking at me like that?” Prosecutor Wood asked, the panic returning to her body. She kept herself composed otherwise, but I still was not a fan at all of what was happening. 

“It’s nothing,” I said quickly before Yuri could even think about speaking up. “We’re going to be heading out soon, but we’d like to know if you saw anything else. Your testimony is incredibly important, you know.” 

Prosecutor Wood glanced back and forth between us. Eventually, she settled on a shrug. “No. I don’t know anything,” she replied simply. “Is that all you wanted to know?” 

I touched my Magatama once again, not that I really needed to do so in order to know without a shadow of a doubt that she was lying. I nodded in response to her question and got to my feet. “We’ll be on our way now. Thank you for talking to us, Prosecutor Wood,” I said, leaving the room soon after with Yuri trailing a short distance behind me. 

Yuri started to speak as soon as we left the room, but I held up one hand to silence her. I gestured for her to follow me into an empty office with no desk or people inside of it. Yuri followed me inside and watched as I shut the door behind her before turning to me with a loud sigh and shake of her head. “What in the world is going on? She was acting nothing like she was yesterday. It’s almost like she’s a completely different person!” Yuri exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air dramatically. “I don’t understand this at all.” 

I sighed and shook my head. “I wish I could tell you what’s going on. It’s frustrating to see such a drastic change. She didn’t seem to notice it at all... I’m definitely suspicious. What could have caused her to change so much so suddenly? I don’t understand it at all... I’m sure we’ll get an answer at some point, but...”  

“We’re going to have to get an answer at some point if we want to solve this case, but it’s still aggravating... We can’t even start to think up a game plan. If we plan something and the other Prosecutor Wood shows up, then our plan is going to be heading right down the toilet. I don’t know why she’s acting so unpredictable all of a sudden. I’m sure there’s a reason, but I have no idea where we’re going to find said reason,” Yuri groaned. 

“I wish I could tell you that I had ideas on the matter, but I’m coming up short... Something caused her to change drastically not only in personality, but in testimony as well. She said that she saw the bomb. If you remember yesterday, Prosecutor Wood mentioned only seeing somebody hunched over a small object. She couldn’t tell what it was. The fact about the man not being recognizable is the same, as is the matter of the knife, but the mention of the bomb is incredibly important. It wasn’t brought up at all until this point,” I told her. 

“I want to know what’s going on with that. I agree that something is happening here involving the bomb, but I don’t know what it could be. Why did she suddenly know what the bomb was? Yesterday, she could have easily figured out that the object being held by Cormous was the bomb, but she still didn’t originally include it in her testimony. She didn’t recognize it at the time that she saw it, so there was no reason for her to include that she knew the object was a bomb. It would probably mess with the outcome of the case in a small way,” Yuri remarked. 

“It truly is odd... Plus, there’s one more thing that I noticed whenever she was telling us about what happened. There was a major difference between her testimony yesterday and what she told us today. There were five Psyche-Locks when she said that she didn’t know anything about the time of the crime,” I frowned. “Yesterday, there weren’t any. She wasn’t lying about not remembering anything from the time of the crime, but all of a sudden, she’s lying about it. If she remembered something, wouldn’t she want to tell us to find the truth behind the case? Why hide it all of a sudden when she seemed so intent on helping us solve this?” 

“There was such a dramatic shift in personality between yesterday and today... It doesn’t even seem believable to me. I know that’s a bit harsh for me to say when it could easily just be a small misunderstanding, but I still feel like there’s something larger at play here. Can I tell you what that larger thing is? Not at all. We don’t have any evidence at this point to prove that she’s lying, nor can we show what could have happened to make her change her tune so drastically,” Yuri said. 

“If you ask me, there was one other thing about that encounter that was odd... She didn’t seem to recognize us when we first walked up to her office door. It took her a while to figure out who we were, and even so, she didn’t ever refer to us by name during that conversation. All she did was sit there and stare at us. She looked nervous, but she didn’t have the normal Prosecutor Wood nervous vibes... It was something different,” I told Yuri. 

“I feel the same... I don’t know how this could be explained, but it doesn’t feel natural at all. The change was far too drastic to be exchanged by a small change in behavior. The knowledge of this Prosecutor Wood doesn’t match up at all with the one that we spoke to earlier in the case. I don’t know what to do about it... Perhaps we can bring this up with the other people from the agency and hope that they have a way to explain it. I don’t think our chances are great given that they don’t know as much about the case as we do, but they might at least have an idea, and that’s all I can really ask for at this point,” Yuri said with a loose shrug. 

“For now, I guess that we can just head to the detention center... I don’t know what to do about Prosecutor Wood, but given that we haven’t heard much about any other witnesses coming forward, we’re probably going to be seeing her again in court tomorrow. Maybe we can get her to talk with the help of the pressure in the courtroom. I don’t usually like using that as a way of getting people to explain what happened since it can hurt them, but I don’t know if we’re going to hear the truth any other way. This new Prosecutor Wood could very easily try to lie her way out of any questions we bring forward, and that will just waste our time,” I sighed. 

“Do you think you’ll be able to break her Psyche-Locks? If you can break those, you should be able to get the truth out of her, right?” Yuri asked, cupping her chin with one hand. 

I shrugged. “I don’t think it will work out that easily. It’s unfortunate, but... I don’t think we have the evidence to continue this line of reasoning much further with her. I hope you don’t hate that I’m giving up on it so soon. There’s just not really much of any evidence to use if we want to get her to confess what’s going on,” I replied. 

Yuri sighed and shook her head, kicking at the nearby wall. Thanks to her lack of strength, there was no dent left behind by the tip of her foot. “This sucks! All I want to know is what’s going on here, but apparently that’s far too much to ask for. The universe officially hates us,” she complained. 

“For now, there’s not much else for us to do here. We should head down to the detention center and talk to the other people from the agency. I’m sure they’ll have figured something out. I hope they have at least,” I murmured, shaking my head.  

Yuri nodded. “I guess you have a point there... Let’s get going. They aren’t going to want to wait all day for us to arrive,” she replied, opening the door and starting to head out to the car. I followed her silently. 

 **April 24**  

 **Detention** **Center**  

 **1:** **45** **PM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

Just like the day before, when Yuri and I arrived at the detention center, it was quickly revealed that we were the last people to arrive, just as it had been the day before. However, I didn’t comment on this, instead pulling up a chair from near the wall to sit next to Deirdre. Yuri did the same and took her seat on the other side of me. Mr. Morix and Chrysalis were waiting on the other side of Deirdre. 

“How are you doing today, Victoria?” I asked, letting my hands settle on my lap as I spoke. 

Victoria shrugged. “I guess I’m still alive... Does that count for anything?” she questioned in response. I could tell that she wasn’t feeling great based off the lack of color in her face. She looked as if she was going to fall asleep at any moment, and I felt a pang of guilt at my core that she had to go through all this. Even so, I didn’t let it show out of fear of upsetting her. 

“We’re happy that you’re okay,” Yuri told her with a small smile to comfort our companion without saying anything about it. 

“Did you find out anything on the matter of the case?” Victoria inquired, looking between me and Yuri as she waited for a response. 

“We found out a few things, though it was a bit of a strange investigation, to put it simply,” I replied, unsure of how else to put it. “We learned something about Cormous, and I’m sure now that he’s the traitor in the agency. This morning, it was just a minor theory, but we learned a lot today that has that blossoming into what is most likely the truth. I’m sorry to say it like that, but... Cormous has been going behind our backs for quite some time.” 

“Somehow, I’m not surprised,” Chrysalis murmured. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since the trial, and I realized that everything seems to come together perfectly if he’s the one who was meant to betray us. I hate to say that, but I guess we have no choice but to accept the reality of the situation at this point. Denial isn’t going to get us anywhere. We’ll need to take the truth in stride and move forward with it in mind.” 

“I wonder why he would want to do this,” Deirdre remarked, leaning forward onto the desk in front of the visitor’s window. She let her head rest in one of her hands, shutting her eyes in quiet thought.  

I looked to Yuri briefly before sighing. “I can tell you later. It’s a long story that we probably don’t want to get into right now. I know that’s a harsh thing to say, but I really don’t think this is the place to explain it. We can tell you another time, Victoria,” I said, turning my attention back towards Deirdre. 

Deirdre responded by opening her eyes and looking to me. Solemn curiosity could be seen in her eyes, but she didn’t speak on it further. We met gazes for a few seconds before looking away from one another.  

“Is that all that made your investigation odd?” Mr. Morix asked. “I would expect there to be more than just that sort of revelation... How did you even find something like that out? Was there a sudden spike of evidence found at the scene of the crime? I feel like that would have made a stir throughout the rest of the Prosecutor’s Office where Chrysalis and I were though...” 

“We spoke with somebody who had been investigating the case for quite some time,” I replied. “I wouldn’t say he was investigating in the same sense that we have been, but he’s been putting in some extra work, to say the least. I’m sure you remember one Prosecutor Daegana from the previous case at the Prosecutor’s Office.” 

Mr. Morix and Chrysalis looked at each other silently before focusing back on me. “You’ll have to say what you found out for sure,” Mr. Morix said, silently telling us that he wanted answers as soon as possible with his eyes. It made sense to me, as Prosecutor Daegana had been a mysterious witness on their case who didn’t reveal much over the course of the investigation. Of course they would be curious if Yuri and I managed to get him to talk at long last. 

“Did you only talk to him during your investigation?” Deirdre asked. “You said it was odd. As strange as Prosecutor Daegana, he alone cannot explain the odd looks you and Yuri shared when you first walked in here. There’s something more to this situation, and it’s clear as day to me.” 

“We did talk to somebody else... Prosecutor Wood,” Yuri answered. “However, she wasn’t acting like herself at all. When I say she was acting strange, I mean it. She was acting as if she didn’t know us at all. It was like she had just met us for the first time. Her testimony had a small difference when compared to what she told us in court today too.” 

“It might be a small difference, but I think that it’s an important one to keep in mind,” I told the group. “Prosecutor Wood said yesterday that when she walked in on the scene of the crime, she didn’t know what was happening. She saw a man hunched over an object, but it was hard to see what the object was.” 

“What about the testimony you heard today?” Victoria questioned, frowning to herself. 

“She said that she had seen a man hunched over a bomb accompanied by a knife. Not only did she point out what the object was, but she also said he had a knife. At first, Prosecutor Wood didn’t realize he was holding a knife since her memory was blurred. Isn’t that an odd contradiction?” I asked. 

“Why would she suddenly refine her testimony to mention the bomb? She hadn’t brought it up until recently. Isn’t it strange?” Deirdre remarked. “Even if she figured out that the object was a bomb, she could have known that on the first day as well. However, she still didn’t mention it since she didn’t realize it was a bomb at the time of running into the victim.” 

“That’s what I was thinking too. It seems odd that she would suddenly shift her testimony to mention it when it previously hadn’t been there. Plus, there wasn’t really a point to changing it,” Yuri agreed. “I was going to ask her about it, but I didn’t think that was a great idea given how oddly she was acting. I didn’t want to say or do anything that would upset her on accident, so I kept quiet.” 

“There has to be some reason her testimony shifted. It is a small change, and the overall gist of it is the same, but those minor details have to be there for a reason. I somehow doubt that she just decided to throw them in when they were points of uncertainty before. Plus, I get the feeling it was more than just her testimony that changed. You said that she was acting oddly, so her behavior must have undergone a dramatic shift as well,” Mr. Morix commented with a frown. “Would you mind telling us about the ways in which she changed in detail?” 

“She didn’t seem to recognize us when we arrived first of all. It was as if she had never seen us before. At the very least, that’s how she was acting. She looked at us like we had three heads at first, and even after she seemingly came around, she still didn’t seem all that comfortable. It was like she was pretending she knew what was happening despite not getting it at all. It was odd to see. She seemed nervous around us as well, but not the regular way Prosecutor Wood gets nervous or anything... No, it was much more... How do I even describe it? It was less anxiety regarding us and more of being afraid of us, which isn’t a good thing at all,” I told the others, though it came out more like word vomit than I would have liked.  

“Hm... Yeah, I have no idea why that would be the case. It’s odd behavior to say the least, but there’s not much else I can say about it,” Mr. Morix frowned, shaking his head. 

“I’ve talked to her a few times when going over to Sora’s house, and she’s never acted like that. Granted, I’ve come to be a bit more comfortable with her over time, but even when she didn’t know me, she didn’t act like that. Plus, she should know Yuri at the very least. I’m pretty sure the two of them are in the same grade at the local high school,” Chrysalis remarked. 

Yuri nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. We’ve been in the same grade ever since she moved into town a few years ago. I wouldn’t say we talk often, but we hold conversations with each other every once in a while. You would expect that to be enough when you’re also going up against somebody in court, but I guess not,” she sighed. “I don’t get this at all.” 

I snapped suddenly, the perfect description coming to mind. “It was like she was a caged animal. She was terrified of us like we had her trapped somewhere against her will. I couldn’t say why that was the case though. I’ve never seen anybody act like that, and even if I had, I wouldn’t expect it at all from somebody who I just talked to a few days ago. It was like she suddenly turned into a different person,” I told the others in the room. 

“That is an odd shift... She didn’t seem particularly comfortable around anybody in the courthouse, but she wasn’t acting like that either. There was a middle ground between the two, I suppose... I don’t know what could have caused such a thing, but I get the feeling it will be vital to finding the truth behind this case. We need answers as soon as possible. If she remembered all of this out of the blue, we need to know why she recalled such from nowhere. There has to be an explanation,” Mr. Morix told us firmly. 

“Hm... I guess all we can do on the matter is leave it be for now,” Yuri sighed, shaking her head. “Unless you guys have a theory as to why this happened... I mean, I don’t have anything in mind, but I figured I would at least ask and see if somebody had an idea.” 

“I’ve got nothing. I don’t know as much about human behavior as other people. I follow the train of logic most of the time, but using emotions against people isn’t something I’m quite as experienced with. Deirdre is our best bet as far as finding an answer is,” Mr. Morix told me. 

“I would agree,” Yuri said, looking up to Deirdre. “You know how people work, Ms. Psychologist. Why don’t you throw out an idea as to why this weird thing happened all of a sudden?” 

“I wonder if she did something to get amnesia... However, I don’t know if I would say amnesia properly applies here. If she had lost her memory of the events of the previous few days, she wouldn’t learn more about what happened at the time of the crime. That simply isn’t reasonable or logical. There has to be some other reason, but I don’t know what it could be. Without an actual analysis of her mental state, finding an answer might be nearly impossible. Her strange behavior doesn’t really fit in with anything I know how to diagnose. I mean, I might have one theory, but I don’t know if we want to go that far,” Deirdre frowned. 

“We probably should save this until tomorrow anyways. After all, we need to swing by one of our houses to get some privacy and talk about what we learned about Cormous. You guys all need to know the truth. Victoria, I’m afraid we can’t tell you quite yet since the detention center doesn’t exactly offer privacy. We can fill you in at the earliest chance we get though. For now, I hope you understand why we can’t talk about it quite yet,” I pointed out. 

Victoria shrugged and shook her head. “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it at all. I know that there are some things you can’t talk about here in the detention center. If we want to discuss it later on, that’s fine. I can be patient. Besides, I’ll probably be dragged away for another round of questioning soon... The police here are relentless when it comes to getting somebody to confess to a crime, even if they didn’t do it,” she frowned. 

Chrysalis looked over to Mr. Morix for a moment, and I could tell they were thinking about Oracle without a word even needing to be spoken. I swallowed as they stared at each other for a few seconds longer. 

“Thank you again for letting us come to see you, Victoria,” Yuri said suddenly as a way of changing the subject. “We’ll be sure to tell you everything as soon as we can. Until then, you try and get some rest. I get the feeling tomorrow is going to be a huge turnabout, and you’re going to want to be awake to see what we pull off.” She grinned childishly and shot Victoria an overly dramatic wink. I found myself chuckling at the action despite myself. Yuri sure was fun to be around. 

Victoria giggled to herself, even with the situation being as dark as it was. “Thank you for coming to see me. I hope you have a nice rest of the day. Until we meet again, everyone,” she smiled, waving as we all rose to our feet. The five of us on the visiting side of the glass left the room soon after, leaving her alone for the rest of the day. 

When we were outside, I glanced at the other people in the area. “I think my house is free of people this time of the day. We can go and talk there,” I said, getting down to business immediately. 

The others nodded their agreement that this was a good idea. Everybody waved to one another, heading off to their respective cars. Yuri followed me to my vehicle. 

I was glad that we had figured out Cormous was the traitor. Maybe things could finally go back to a somewhat normal state after all these weeks of chaos and panic. It was all I could ask for at this point, and even so, I wasn’t sure at all if the universe was going to grant my wish or not. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is coming lightning fast before I go to a party
> 
> -Digital


	38. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 8

**April 25**  

 **Defendant Lobby No. 5**  

 **9:15 AM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

The next morning, I shuffled into the defendant lobby while rubbing at my eyes. After dropping by Victoria’s visiting cell, we had gotten the chance to talk about everything Prosecutor Daegana had told us about. I was able to rest soon after that since the investigation didn’t exactly take over my entire day, but even if I had the ability to rest, I didn’t really get the chance to. I found sleep didn’t want to come to me when I finally got to lay down, and it was more than annoying, let me tell you. I just wanted the chance to be peaceful, away from the chaos that came with investigating this case. 

Everything that had happened was already stressing me out hardcore, though that’s probably putting it lightly. I hadn’t been able to sleep through the night since the case began, and it was starting to catch up with me. The Cormous thing was not helping at all. It was ridiculous in my opinion. I knew Cormous was bad now, but that didn’t do enough to calm my wild mind in its crazy state of consistent imagination. I had come to terms with it, but my subconscious clearly hadn’t, and I was losing sleep and my sanity over it. 

Yuri came into the defendant lobby soon after, arms crossed over her chest. The pouty expression she wore was one I knew all too well, and I could tell she was not happy with how things had gone the night before. She looked just as tired as I did, if not more so. I felt bad for her, and I told myself that after this case ended, we would have to both take some time to kick back and relax.  

“Morning, Lily,” Yuri finally grumbled, sitting down on the couch. Well, I say she sat down, but as far as I could tell, it was much more of a flop onto the cushions. She rubbed at her eyes and leaned back against the back area of the couch. To me, it appeared that she would fall asleep if she was left alone for too long, and I prayed that she didn’t leave me to deal with this mess alone. 

“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do about this whole situation... I still don’t get what we’re going to do from here about the Cormous killing Prosecutor Cruz thing. On top of that, we don’t know who the culprit is on this current case. They saved so many lives, but they didn’t do anything to leave behind clues that would help anybody find out the truth behind their identity,” I told her, getting down to business quickly as always. 

“The only clue that we’ve really got here is that Prosecutor Wood has been acting kind of weird lately, but we still don’t know why this is... She can’t really be a different person, right? Nobody would look that much like her. Even if somebody tried to replace her, would they really look so similar?” Yuri asked. 

“I can’t help but wonder that too... It’s so odd. There’s so much going on with this case, and yet, we don’t know the answer to one of the most pressing issues that we need to solve if we want to figure this out,” I murmured, shaking my head. “There has to be something for us to find somewhere in this case, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it could possibly all mean... I don’t know where to go from here, and it’s starting to annoy me.” 

“Well, I don’t know what to do about it either, so I guess all we can do is see where the flow of the case takes us. Until then, let’s just wait and pray that things go our way. We can’t change what happens until we get in there, and it’s not like we have any clues as to how we’re going to solve it even when we do get in there. It’s frustrating,” Yuri sighed with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Deirdre is good with this psychology stuff. Now that we know she’s not going to stab us in the back, maybe we could ask her for help on this. She knows about what could possibly make a person change... She didn’t seem to have any ideas yesterday, but she might look at things with a new lens today now that she’s had some time to sit on it.” 

As if on cue, Deirdre came into the lobby. “Good morning, you two,” she said, considerably more awake and alert than we were. It looked as if she was even having a good time despite having to wake up so early... Well, I say we all had to wake up early, but in truth, we actually got to sleep in more than we did when just going into the office.” 

“Deirdre, it’s nice to see you. We were just talking about you, as a matter of fact. Do you think that you could help us out with a little something?” I asked, a sweet smile appearing on my face as I prepared to sweet talk her into helping us out. Granted, she didn’t exactly need any sweet talking given how nice she already was, but I was used to dealing with my brother, and he did sometimes need a little bit of extra persuasion to help me out with some things. 

“What do you need?” Deirdre asked, tilting her head to one side. She seemed to be content with standing up where Yuri and I weren’t, and I could tell that she was a morning person for sure. Granted, that didn’t surprise me much, but it was still odd that she was able to walk around so functionally when I was falling apart at the seams. 

“We’re dealing with the issue of Prosecutor Wood’s odd behavior yesterday, but we don’t know how to explain it. Could you help us out?” I questioned.  

“I guess I can try to do what I can to assist you... I actually did a little bit of thinking about a potential explanation for her odd behavior, but I ultimately came up short, I’m afraid. I do have on theory, but I’m not entirely sure if it would make sense. It really does depend on the way she behaved... But I think I can explain how her memories were different between the two versions that you saw while also saying the reason that she behaved so oddly,” Deirdre replied. 

“Go on then! Don’t hold out on us,” Yuri pressed, taking Deirdre’s hand in her own. “Please?” 

Deirdre sighed and closed her eyes. “I think that she might have a mental health issue that would cause some odd behavior of this nature. Perhaps she has dissociative identity disorder... That would explain why she was acting so strangely while also showing off her appearance as being the same. There would be different memories involved, but they would still look the same. I have no evidence of such, and I wasn’t exactly there to see if there were any regular symptoms of this behavior, but from what you have told me, this is the best conclusion I could come to. Sorry if it’s not much help,” Deirdre told us. 

“No, that’s perfectly fine... In fact, we might have to consider that as possibility from the start. I know it might be a bit risky to jump right into that assumption, but it’s not as if we have any ideas of our own. In fact, we’re as good as clueless as it stands right now. Even if this theory turns out to be incorrect, the mere concept that we might know what we’re doing helps us out a lot,” I assured her.  

“I’m glad I was able to do something to contribute to the case, even if you aren’t sure as to where you’re going to be going from here,” Deirdre smiled lightly. “If you find that you need anything else from me, whether it’s related to the case or not, I’ll be here. I know you can’t text during the trial to get my attention, but I doubt anyone would object to you calling me down as a witness to talk about Prosecutor Wood’s disturbing behavior.” 

“There’s one other thing that’s bothering me about this whole mess, if I’m being honest,” Yuri frowned. “We need to find a way to incorporate the reveal Prosecutor Daegana told us about while also dealing with the Prosecutor Wood thing. The court will need to put Prosecutor Daegana’s testimony in the records not only for this case, but for the previous one as well. It’s not like we were on that case though, so do we really have the jurisdiction to talk about it and come forward with testimony that shatters everything the previous case had before it was shut?” 

“I wouldn’t say Prosecutor Daegana’s testimony shatters it... I would say that it helps significantly in finding the truth,” I told her. “However, I do think that we should hold off on sharing it if at all possible. I believe it might be a strong idea to let him go to the police and share what he knows about to people who can go into the case file to investigate it. I’m sure the detectives on the case would welcome anything he had to say on the matter since they wound up being just as clueless as the defense and prosecution. Plus, they aren’t in a state of panic as two murders take place in their office back to back unlike the prosecutors.” 

“In that case, I guess all we can do is concentrate on other things then,” Yuri shrugged. “If we happen to see him, we can tell him where to go with what he knows, but I somehow get the feeling he’ll know what to do anyways. It isn’t as if he’s an idiot or anything, so he can figure out what the best move to make would be from here regardless of if we tell him or not.” 

“Is there anything else you want to hear from me before the trial?” Deirdre asked. 

I shook my head. “I can’t think of much else... If possible, I’d like you to stay on hand in case we wind up needing you to testify about what could cause the change in personality and memory in Prosecutor Wood,” I told her. 

“Hey there, you three.” 

I looked up upon hearing a voice, smiling when I realized it belonged to Victoria. “Hey there, Victoria,” I said. I was no longer as drowsy as I had been, the conversation with Deirdre waking me up, so I could greet her enthusiastically, something I got the feeling she needed. “Are you ready for the trial today?” 

Victoria let out a nervous laugh. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied, though it was clear as day that she was bluffing to keep everyone else from getting nervous or scared. I could see through her like she was a window.  

“We’re here too,” Mr. Morix’s voice suddenly cut in. He appeared with Chrysalis nearby, both of them staring solemnly at us. They seemed exhausted, and I could tell that they hadn’t slept very much, putting them in the same boat as me and Yuri. They had been involved in the hiring process of Cormous, and they were probably going through a lot of rough moments knowing that they had brought such a horrible person into the ranks of the agency. Granted, Cormous had lied to them in order to get into the business, but that probably didn’t make them feel much better. 

“We’re almost ready to get in there and take care of business,” Yuri told them. “Is there anything that you want to throw out there before we get inside? There’s no turning back after we get into that courtroom and all that.” 

Mr. Morix looked to Chrysalis, and they shared a brief gaze before turning their attention back to us. “I can’t think of anything,” Mr. Morix replied. I’m not going to lie, it was still crazy to me how the two of them could share information without saying anything. I wished I had a bond like that with somebody, but Robbie wasn’t exactly the person to show much emotion through his eyes. He was a somewhat secretive person in his own little way, and while I had the best chances of breaking through his barriers, I didn’t think it would do much if he didn’t want me to get into his head. That was probably for the best given how we were on opposite sides of the courtroom often, even if I wished that wasn’t the case. 

“Well, if we’ve got nothing, all we can do is jump in there and pray that things don’t go too horribly wrong. We’re guessing what to do from here since we don’t have much solid proof, and our main issue is with Prosecutor Wood. Prosecutor Daegana we’re going to have testify to the detectives from the previous case about what he knows. That way, the case can be closed at some point, as that testimony would revolutionize it,” I declared. “See? We’re all going to do great today. There won’t be any issues for us since we’ve been smart enough to learn the important stuff before going into the courtroom!” 

A cry rang out from the bailiff, and I sighed. It was time to get inside. “Well, that’s our cue. I guess it’s time for us to end this,” I declared, rising to my feet and stretching my arms upwards. I popped my fingers and smirked to myself. “Alright. Let’s do this. I’m tired of waiting around for this to start.” 

Yuri nodded. “We’ll see you guys later. When we talk again, we’ll hopefully be able to go back to our regular lives at the agency without any issues now that the traitor situation will have been dealt with. You have no idea how happy I am to hear about that, let me tell you. I’m tired of not doing anything out of fear of this traitor. I’m not happy we were betrayed, but I’m happy that he’s gone and can’t bother us anymore.” 

Chrysalis and Mr. Morix looked at each other for a moment. “Good luck,” Chrysalis said simply as she and Mr. Morix turned to head to the gallery. Deirdre followed after them once she had waved to me and Yuri.  

Victoria looked to us briefly before heading into the courtroom herself, and Yuri and I trailed behind her. We were ready to take care of this. I didn’t know what we were going to do, but I wasn’t going to let this case pass us by for any longer. It was going to end soon, and I was sure of it. Nothing was going to stop us now! 

 **April 25**  

 **Courtroom** **No. 5**  

 **10** **:** **00** **AM**  

 **Lily Shield**  

When we got into the courtroom, I gazed across the courtroom, seeing Prosecutor Lin, Robbie, and Prosecutor Cruz standing just as they had the day before. Prosecutor Lin was standing right in between the other two once again, easily separating them to ensure they didn’t fight. As much as I hated to admit it, this decision was definitely wise, as I knew how competitive Robbie could get, especially if Prosecutor Cruz was around. I didn’t know what caused this behavior in him, but there wasn’t much I could make him quit it, so I decided to just leave it be. Prosecutor Lin could handle it. She was an adult who could handle herself and others. 

“Court is now back in session for the trial of Victoria von Graye. Are the defense and prosecution ready?” Judge Frost declared after hitting her gavel against the podium before her. Afterwards, she played around with the gavel, sliding it back and forth in between her fingers. 

“The defense is ready,” I declared after sharing a brief glance with Yuri. Our previous exhaustion had faded away, and we were ready to roll now. The conversation about what was coming had snapped me out of my sleepy daze, and now, I was sure today was going to be the day that we found the truth so that everything could go back to normal at the agency. 

“The prosecution is also ready,” Prosecutor Lin announced, not even bothering to look at Prosecutor Cruz or Robbie. She seemed oddly relaxed while the other two were tense and frowning deeply. “Should I get into the opening statement the prosecution needs to deliver?”  

Judge Frost nodded. “Go right ahead,” she said, setting her gavel down to look at Prosecutor Lin with a small frown. 

Prosecutor Lin grinned, still not giving any attention to the two men on either side of her. “During the investigation yesterday, we attempted to see if there was anything of value left at the crime scene. While we didn’t find much physical proof, we did hear about something new from a lovely witness. In fact, we’re going to start off today by calling her, as her testimony will blow this case wide open,” she told the court loudly. 

I looked to Yuri, nudging her gently with my elbow. “Who wants to bet that we know exactly who this person is?” I asked, even if I already knew the answer. The feminine pronouns gave it all away, and I knew for sure that it had to be Prosecutor Wood. Prosecutor Lin’s connection with her made it even more obvious that she was who was being referred to here. 

“Go on and call your witness then, prosecution,” Judge Frost said, letting her hands rest gently on the bench before her. 

“The prosecution calls Niamh Wood up to the witness stand,” Robbie announced, finally getting the chance to talk in over Prosecutor Lin. She didn’t seem bothered by it, and if she was, she hid it masterfully. 

Prosecutor Wood walked up to the witness stand, but her walk wasn’t a regular shuffle. I raised an eyebrow in surprise at noticing this, but I didn’t say anything to call her on it. It was odd, but I didn’t know how to bring it up without seeming odd. Who notices that kind of stuff aside from me, who was already suspecting something was going on with Prosecutor Wood? 

“Please give the court your name and occupation,” Judge Frost told her. 

“Niamh Wood... Prosecutor,” Prosecutor Wood replied simply. Her voice was shaking, but it didn’t seem to be the normal waver she had to her voice. Instead, there was something... More behind it. I don’t know how else I would describe it. There was just something strange about the way she was acting today. Where did it come from? I hadn’t the slightest idea, to be perfectly honest. I wish I had a theory, but the only thing I had was Deirdre’s suggestion that didn’t have any evidence. 

“Please begin your testimony, Prosecutor Wood,” Judge Frost instructed. Since she didn’t know Prosecutor Wood as well, she wasn’t bothered by the odd behavior. As far as she knew, this could just be how she normally acted. There wasn’t an ounce of proof that this wasn’t regular to her, and it was because of this that I kept my lips sealed firmly shut, trying not to show my frustration outwardly. 

Prosecutor Wood nodded. “Yes... Of course,” she said, swallowing nervously.  

“Isn’t she acting odd?” Yuri asked, nudging me gently. 

“She is... I guess we have the same Prosecutor Wood we saw yesterday. I don’t know where she came from, and it isn’t like we have any evidence she’s different anyways,” I sighed. 

“I wouldn’t go that far... We do have one thing that the court can back us up on. We have her testimony from yesterday, and if we use that against her, then they’ll have no choice but to listen to us. After all, some of these people were here yesterday when we talked about what she saw at the time of the crime, and if she slips up, we can press it and go on the offensive,” Yuri pointed out. 

“That’s true... And it’s our best chance at getting this to work in our favor. I guess all we can do is pray this winds up going well,” I frowned. “I don’t like leaving it up to chance, but we need something big. If we nitpick, the court might deny it and say we’re not looking at the bigger picture. Luckily, we heard what she had to say yesterday, and she’ll probably say the same thing no matter how suspicious it makes her seem to a third party.” 

“Um... I’m going to go on and start now,” Prosecutor Wood declared, playing with her hair quietly. When nobody told her not to go on, she glanced around, took a deep breath, and got into it. 

 **~ Witness Testimony ~**  

 **~ What I Saw ~**  

 _-“I was on my way out of the Prosecutor’s Office when I saw something odd in the lobby.”_  

 _-“There was a man holding a knife sitting in a secluded area!”_  

 _-“He appeared to be crunched over an object, looking at it closely...”_  

 _-“I don’t know what happened after that... It’s all a bit of a blur...”_  

 _-“Where did I even wake up afterwards? I can’t remember. I guess I fell asleep at some point.”_  

 _-“Oh! I remember! I woke up in the hallway upstairs on a bench. That’s right.”_  

 _-“I think that man was holding a bomb when I saw him too... Isn’t that odd? Who in the world would have a bomb at the Prosecutor’s Office?”_  

I couldn’t help the small smirk that appeared on my face at listening to her testimony. This was going exactly as I had planned. Perfect. I looked to Judge Frost. “The defense would like to start its cross-examination,” I said, not taking a second to linger on what we had just heard. The sooner she got into it once again, the sooner we could blow her lie open and figure out what in the world was actually going on here, as it was clear this wasn’t what it appeared to be. 

Judge Frost didn’t seem to pick up on my optimism, and she nodded. “Go on ahead, defense,” she told us. “Witness, repeat your testimony from the start.” 

“Okay,” Prosecutor Wood said with a small nod before opening her mouth to speak once more. 

 **~** **Cross-Examination** **~**  

 **~ What I Saw ~**  

 _-“I was on my way out of the Prosecutor’s Office when I saw something odd in the lobby.”_  

 _-“There was a man holding a knife sitting in a secluded area!”_  

 _-“He appeared to be crunched over an object, looking at it closely...”_  

 _-“I don’t know what happened after that... It’s all a bit of a blur...”_  

 _-“Where did I even wake up afterwards? I can’t remember. I guess I fell asleep at some point.”_  

 _-“Oh! I remember! I woke up in the hallway upstairs on a bench. That’s right.”_  

 _-“I think that man was holding a bomb when I saw him too... Isn’t that odd? Who in the world would have a bomb at the Prosecutor’s Office?”_  

“Objection!” 

“Witness, I have to ask you... When you first saw the victim, did you realize that he was holding a bomb?” I questioned, even if I already knew the answer. However, I couldn’t go on the offensive too quickly to ensure that nobody got suspicious. By ‘nobody’, I meant ‘Prosecutor Wood’, who I really didn’t want to catch onto what I was playing at already. 

Prosecutor Wood nodded. “Of course I did. Isn’t it obvious when you look at the scene of the murder? It has to be a bomb. Everybody knows that it’s a bomb. He tried to blow up the building with people still inside. It’s obvious,” she said. 

I shook my head. “That’s not what I asked. I asked if you knew about it being a bomb when you first stumbled upon the scene of the crime. When you first found the man with the knife, did you know that he was holding a bomb, or did you figure that out later on?” I questioned. 

“Um... I knew it when I first saw him,” Prosecutor Wood replied. “It was pretty clear that he was holding something that wasn’t supposed to be there, and I realized that it was a bomb when I got a little bit closer.” 

“How were you able to get closer at all? You have a horrible fear of knives that makes you pass out when you see one,” I told her. “If you have such an awful phobia, you would have dropped unconscious before getting anywhere near close enough to see that it was a bomb. In fact, we heard testimony yesterday that Prosecutor Wood didn’t realize that the object was a bomb. She instead saw the object as merely a small cube and never figured out what it was until the investigation officially kicked off. If that’s the case, how do you explain what you saw?” 

Prosecutor Wood frowned, her eyes going wide. I saw her get a little bit paler under the pressure. “Um... I didn’t look at the knife when I got close enough to see the bomb. I got lucky and didn’t notice it,” she replied. 

“Then why did Prosecutor Wood mention it yesterday in her testimony?” I inquired. “Isn’t that a strange discrepancy?” 

“Why do you keep referring to me in the third person? I’m right here!” Prosecutor Wood exclaimed. “I’m Prosecutor Wood! Do you think there are multiple versions of us? That’s ridiculous!” 

“I think that you just proved it for everyone in this court that there are multiple Prosecutor Wood’s. You just said ‘multiple versions of us’, us being the key word here. You referred to yourself as if there were more than one. You know that there are multiple versions, and you just told the entire court such. I believe that we spoke to one of the versions during the trial yesterday and you during the investigation,” I told her, a small smirk on my face. 

“What are you talking about?” Robbie questioned, his eyes wide. “This doesn’t make any sense. How could there be more than one of her? She looks the same as she always did. She’s nervous, anxious, not great with talking to people... That’s normal for her.” 

“And yet, the energy she gives off today is different from usual. You surely must have noticed it as well. She’s not acting normal, but she’s trying to pass off as a regular girl. I didn’t understand why this is... Why would her behavior change so drastically in between a few hours? It was such an odd shift as well... But after doing some thinking, I realized that there had to be more than one Prosecutor Wood. That was the only way the change in attitude, behavior, and testimony made sense,” I said. 

“But how does this factor into the case?” Prosecutor Cruz asked. 

“I think that we spoke to the regular Prosecutor Wood yesterday during the trial. There, she told us about what she had seen at the time of the crime. She fell unconscious after hyperventilating in a panic attack over the knife the victim was holding. When she dropped out, this version stepped in, meaning that the variation of Prosecutor Wood we see before us could be a split personality. It would explain how her behavior could shift so drastically in a matter of minutes while also showing how she can look exactly the same,” I explained. “It was a simple switch.” 

“And this switch allowed this Prosecutor Wood to pass off as the regular one... She didn’t know us because they probably don’t have the same pool of memories,” Yuri realized. “Prosecutor Wood didn’t know what happened at the time of the crime because she passed out, but since this version stepped in, she was around when the murder took place... So, she’s our key witness to finding the truth behind the murder!” 

“Exactly. All we need to do at this point is get her to open up about what she saw at the time. From there, we should be able to finish this case off for the day. Prosecutor Wood, or whatever your name is... Why don’t we take this from the top? Who are you really? What did you do at the time of the murder?” I asked. 

Prosecutor Wood, who had been oddly quiet up to this point, let out a small huff and shook her head. She pulled the ponytails out of the bottom of her braids, and a few seconds later, her hair was flying free. The hair that regularly covered one of her eyes had moved off to the side to show off her full face. A jagged scar was shown now when it had previously been hidden behind her hair. Prosecutor Wood let out a small laugh, playing with the edges of her hair once again. A small smirk was on her lips, but it didn’t seem to be entirely sadistic as far as I was concerned. 

“I think we should have the witness start from the beginning... Please state your real name and occupation for the court,” Judge Frost declared, frowning deeply down at the new Prosecutor Wood. 

Prosecutor Wood crossed her arms, leaning up against the witness stand. “Name’s Nevada Wood. I don’t have an occupation,” she replied, looking out over the court. Her previous nervousness was gone, and I realized that this was no longer an act. She was finally showing us her true form, and it was going to be this true form that brought us to the truth behind this case.  

Our victory was being guarded by this new ‘Nevada’ character, and I didn’t have the slightest idea what to think of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEV TIME
> 
> -Digital


	39. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 9

** April 25 **

** Courtroom  ** ** No. 5 **

** 11 ** ** :15 AM **

** Lily Shield **

“I have more than a few questions about this whole situation,” Prosecutor Lin declared. Shock was clearly written on her face, and I’m not going to lie, I felt bad for her. She had been living with Prosecutor Wood for ages and never noticed that this was going on. It must have been a serious reality check for her, and it made me feel horrible that she had to find out this way. I know I wouldn’t have been happy to find out such personal information about somebody in my family in the middle of a courtroom of all places. 

“Then ask me, Linny,” Nevada replied. She leaned forward on the witness stand and looked up at Prosecutor Lin with a relaxed expression. “I don’t bite.”

“I think I would be terrified if she did bite,” Yuri murmured, nudging me with one elbow. “Then again, wouldn’t everyone?”

“How did you manage to hide this for so long? How long has this whole thing been going on?” Prosecutor Lin asked. “I’ve been living with you for ages, and I had no clue this was happening. It’s so strange to me that you were able to bury this for so long.”

“Hm... I don’t know how long. A few years? I don’t know. I think I was about twelve at the time. Don’t quote me on that. I don’t remember exactly. I just know  that I’m  not as old as the body I inhabit,” Nevada replied.

“For someone who’s supposedly only three, she’s very well-spoken,” I commented. “If anyone else told me that she was that young, I would have called them crazy, but coming from her, I guess it make sense... She would know herself best since nobody else knew she existed.”

“What caused you to exist?” Robbie asked with a heavy frown. “If you came to be three years ago, something must have happened three years ago to spark your existence. You wouldn’t just suddenly come out of nowhere.”

“Hm... I don’t know exactly what happened, but I think it had something to do with the disappearance of my cousin. Something happened before then. Afterwards, my cousin went missing, and I was caused by whatever made him want to leave. I don’t know what it was. I wasn’t around yet to know what it was, so it’s a mystery even to me,” Nevada replied. “You’d have to ask Niamh, but I can’t swap out easily. I need to pass out, and I’m not that type. She might fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but I’m not quite so easily to put to sleep. For now, we’ll just have to go on without an explanation.”

“Wow... Well, I guess the cause isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things. We really want you to tell us about what you saw at the time of the crime. We believe that Prosecutor Wood  was in charge of  your body before passing out at the sight of a knife, which is when you came in. You were the one who came in and took control of your shared body at this time, and you did something to get away from the scene of the crime,” Prosecutor Lin said. I could tell she was still shaken, but I didn’t comment on it at all.

“Maybe I did. It’s not something you can prove. I didn’t do anything,” Nevada rambled, ignoring what we were saying immediately. “How about we move on? What did the victim do? The victim is a bad guy, right?”

“We never said that the victim was bad while you were around. How did you know that he had been doing bad things?” I asked with a small smirk.

Nevada stared at me for a moment before shrugging. “Dumb luck, I guess,” she said. “If you look at him, it’s pretty easy to guess that he’s shady. You would think he was bad if you saw his face too. Don’t come for me when I was just letting my instincts guide me.”

“Nevada, you know that you can trust us, right?” Prosecutor Lin questioned. “You weren’t around during yesterday’s trial... At least, I don’t think you were. I believe the defense can give us a set timeline about what you did at the time of the crime. Plus, they can say when you were in control and when you weren’t based on what they learned in the investigation yesterday. Is it okay if they explain that now?”

Nevada sighed and shrugged. “Okay, I guess... I mean, I suppose that it wouldn’t hurt, so if you want to, then you can,” she said, but I could tell she really didn’t like this idea. She looked at me and Yuri with uncertainty, and I still got the feeling she didn’t fully understand who we were or why she should trust us.

“We think that Prosecutor Wood was in control when she headed out to testify in the other trial the day of the murder. However, while she was leaving the Prosecutor’s Office, she ran into the victim, who had a knife in one hand. She saw the sharp object and passed out, causing Nevada to take over. She did something unknown  at this time  before making her way upstairs and falling asleep on the bench on a higher floor. Well, she either fell asleep or passed out, but I think Nevada herself can explain this clearly. Yesterday, Prosecutor Wood was in control, and she passed out somehow at the Prosecutor’s Office after the trial had ended. From there, Nevada took over once again, and she’s been the one in charge ever since. We ran into her briefly during our investigation, and she told us that she didn’t know anything. Nevada didn’t seem to know who we were, so she was acting strangely. It was this odd behavior that led us to think that there was something going on involving Prosecutor Wood to begin with,” I declared. “That sure was a meaty explanation.”

“Well... Can you prove any of this? What makes you so sure that I did any of this stuff?” Nevada asked, going on the defensive immediately. “Without proof, you can’t say that I did it. You need to be able to show without a shadow of a doubt that I did something in order for it to be accepted. You’re a lawyer. You’re supposed to know how court works.”

I looked over to Yuri for a moment. “We haven’t accused you of anything. I’m afraid I don’t understand what  has you  so defensive all of a sudden,” I told Nevada with a small frown. I kept myself from saying that we hadn’t accused her of anything ‘yet’, as this was sure to freak her out, and we didn’t need her getting nervous when she already didn’t want to tell us anything.

Nevada sighed. “How about we take this from the top? What’s going on? What do you think I did?” she asked. “I don’t want to deal with any games here, so be honest with me from the start.”

I shared yet another glance with Yuri. I didn’t know how I was going to explain this, to be perfectly honest. We needed to tell her about our suspecting her of the murder, but we didn’t want her to get defensive when we were on her good side. That would just cause a huge mess that I knew I didn’t want to deal with.

“I think we should first tell you about what has been going on with the killer and the deductions we have made,” Prosecutor Cruz cut in, effortlessly changing the topic. I’m not going to lie, his sudden intervention sent relief all through my body. After all, Nevada would react better if we told her that the killer had done a good thing (which was the truth) than just randomly accusing her of the murder. I found it odd that we were doing this with someone we suspected was a killer, but I guess there was nothing we could do about it.

“Okay...” Nevada said with a small frown. I could tell she was sensing we were doing something, but she couldn’t quite tell what it was. 

“So, we believe that the killer saved lives by committing this crime. The victim had to die if many other lives were going to be saved,” I began. “You see, we found out that somebody had attempted to plant a bomb in the lobby of the Prosecutor’s Office, and yesterday, we deduced that said person was the victim. His fingerprints were all over the bomb, and he had the remote to detonate it. We found further proof later in testimony from a witness who declared he had been doing bad things for quite some time.”

“The killer ended the victim’s life to keep him from setting off the bomb. The killer then destroyed the bomb by cutting the wires from the inside, meaning the bomb was unable to be detonated. In doing so, the killer saved all the people who were in the  building.  If the killer hadn’t defeated the victim, the bomb would have gone off and destroyed the building, which would have ended the lives of everyone who was inside at the time. We owe a lot to the culprit,” Yuri continued.

“The culprit likely wouldn’t face criminal charges due to what they did to help out the people in the building,” Prosecutor Lin said. “After all, they saved all sorts of people... Myself included. I’m incredibly happy that they defeated the victim.”

Nevada stared at  us,  her eyes wide in shock. She swallowed nervously, refusing to meet any of our gazes. “Well... Wow,” she murmured. “I didn’t expect you to say that. Normally, people involved in the legal system say that all killers are bad. I didn’t realize there were exceptions. You could have fooled me, if I’m being honest.”

“Well, I’m just happy you know the truth now. After all, we wouldn’t want you to go into this with the wrong assumption. Everyone involved with this case needs to know as much as possible to ensure the verdict is fair,” Prosecutor Lin told her with a small smile. She was doing a great job at keeping Nevada calm, and for that, I had to commend her. I know for sure that I would struggle with keeping Nevada relaxed in such a situation. I would be focused on keeping myself calm first, making it much harder to relax others. 

Nevada frowned for a moment and let out a small sigh. “You know, you people are way too nice. I feel like this is going to get you in trouble one day, but maybe I’m incorrect. I guess only time will tell,” she said, grumbling the words softly. 

“I don’t think it’ll hurt us in the end. I mean, we’re all cautious, so we won’t let anything bad happen,” I smiled, trying to reassure her that everything would be okay. Maybe she would try to  open up  to us if she realized that we were good people that had no intentions of hurting her. It wasn’t certain, but I was willing to try and  make an attempt  at the very least. It was the least we could try to do if we wanted to find the truth behind this case.

Nevada shook her head. “I don’t know. You seem so sure, but I wouldn’t be so confident. The world will always find a way to shatter that confidence. I’m not even speaking from experience there. It’s just what I think happens from my limited knowledge of the world,” she shrugged. “I guess you can take that how you wish. I can’t make you listen to me, even if I think you should.”

“I think that regardless of if our kindness gets taken advantage of, it’s something that we can kindly offer in this situation. After all, the culprit saved countless lives by killing the victim,” I said. “With that said, I would like to ask you, Nevada... What were you doing at the time of the crime?”

Nevada looked at me, her eyes suddenly much wider than they had been just a few seconds ago. “Why are you asking me  all of a sudden ? You can’t mean to say that you think I did it,” she told us. She was starting to talk faster already, adrenaline getting to her nearly immediately. “This is ridiculous. Why would I want to kill the victim? I barely know anybody at the Prosecutor’s Office. I spend most of my time hiding away in  Niamh’s  subconscious.”

“I think that you’re trying to hide one crucial fact from us here, and that fact will point to if you did it or not,” I told her. “How much do you really know about the people at the Prosecutor’s Office?”

Nevada stared at me, blinking a few times in confusion. “I’m sorry... What?” she asked. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get at here, but I don’t think I like it one bit.”

“This can’t be the first time that you have ever shown up. I simply can’t believe that. You have appeared before now as far as I can tell. You would have reacted with much more confusion if this was your first time showing up, and yet, you seemed to know what you were doing. If I had to guess, you came to be a lot closer with the other people in the Prosecutor’s Office than you’re letting on,” I explained.

“You think that I killed the victim because I love the people in the Prosecutor’s Office?” Nevada questioned, staring at me. She blinked another few times before letting out a small laugh. “Me? Care about people?! Ha! I don’t have feelings, so I can’t care about people!”

“Well, I think that there’s something to prove that you do have feelings,” Prosecutor Lin told her. “You haven’t told us what you were doing at the time of the crime yet even if we’ve mentioned you probably killed the victim at this time. Why haven’t you said what you were doing at the time? It could clear your name.”

“I don’t know what this has to do with me having feelings,” Nevada frowned. 

“If you hadn’t committed the crime, you would have an alibi. You would have mentioned such. And yet, you haven’t brought that up at all... Perhaps it’s because you were killing the victim at the time. Perhaps you killed the victim because you cared so much about everyone else,” Prosecutor Lin said with a small, serene smile. “You don’t need to deny it. Feelings aren’t bad.”

“I’m not saying anything else. I have a right to not incriminate myself. Now, will you please leave me alone?” Nevada questioned impatiently. Despite her saying that she wanted to leave, I could tell that she was hiding her true feelings. I didn’t need to be Deirdre to be able to tell. It was much clearer than Nevada seemed to think. 

“You know, the culprit in this case is actually kind of a hero. We’re not lying about that. Seriously. Without the culprit, the people inside that building would have been in a world of trouble, but since the culprit was present, everyone wound up safe. I can’t even begin to express my thanks to that person... Are you sure you don’t know who it is?” Robbie asked. He seemed to have come to the same conclusion everyone else in the courtroom had, but he wasn’t going to try and openly get her to confess. “We aren’t mad at all. How could we be mad when the culprit saved our lives?”

Nevada looked at him and let out a sigh. “Listen, I think you guys are just going off on tangents. You seem nice enough, but I don’t see how any of this has to do with me having emotions. What does it matter? I don’t feel happiness or anger. That’s normal. Not everybody likes feeling things. I don’t like feeling things. How about we drop this so that I can go home? It’s not helping anyone here,” she said.

I shook my head. “We actually happen to have someone here who can work as a psychologist. In fact, she has a degree, and she should be able to help us with this witness’ mental state. Perhaps she can assist us in coming to a common conclusion,” I suggested.

“If you don’t mind my asking, who is it that can do such a thing?” Judge Frost asked, raising an eyebrow in my direction.

“It’s actually someone from my agency. Her name is Deirdre Brigit. She should be able to help us through dealing with this witness’ psychological state... If it’s allowed, the defense would like to call her down to assist with finding the truth behind this case. She’s sitting up in the gallery as we speak,” I said.

Judge Frost looked over to the prosecution before returning her gaze to me. “It doesn’t appear that the prosecution has any objections to such a proposal... Alright. If it isn’t an issue, the defense may summon its assistant at this time,” she declared.

I looked over to Yuri for a moment, a grin appearing on my face. “The defense would like to call Deirdre Brigit to the bench to examine the mental state of the current witness,” I announced.

“Why are you letting her do this? For all you know, it's a scam! Therapy is fake, and we’re all going to die one day,” Nevada said with a deep frown. Her sudden jump into the existential was something I didn’t expect, if I’m being perfectly honest.

“If it will help to figure out the truth behind this case, we’ll have to take a chance on it. Besides, it’s not like anyone else has proposed any other ideas... Unless you know what we should do instead, witness?” Judge Frost asked, frowning deeply to Nevada.

Nevada seemed to understand that she was outnumbered, and she let out a heavy sigh. “This isn’t going to go well... I know it won’t go well. Therapy is still fake,” she grumbled. I got the feeling she was saying the whole ‘therapy is fake’ thing because she had never been. After all, if she had, we would have known about the dissociative identity thing before now, but since it had remained a secret, the only explanation was that she hadn’t ever been pushed to go into therapy. 

Deirdre made her way down from the gallery to the main level of the courtroom, and she stepped next to Yuri to stand behind the defense bench. “I’m glad you decided to call me down here,” Deirdre said with a small smile. “I got the feeling something was going on, and I wanted the chance to try and figure out what was happening.”

“In that case, I’m glad we called you down too,” I smiled. “Deirdre here has experience in psychology, and she should be able to help us calm the witness down enough to get a decent testimony out of her.”

“Calm me down? I am calm!” Nevada snapped. I never expected such a booming voice to come out of such a relatively small body. Even if she was taller than me, she looked so fragile at a first glance, and yet, Nevada had no qualms about screaming at the top of her lungs apparently.

“That’s exactly what I thought you would say... You see, I think something is going on with you  at the moment  that has you upset or stressed. Being in court is enough to make anyone upset, but this seems to go past the regular nerves of being in the courtroom. I  have to  wonder... Is there something else that could have frightened you?” Deirdre asked, remaining surprisingly relaxed in the face of the angry, screaming child before her. 

“Maybe because you’re trying to, I don’t know, accuse me of murder?!” Nevada asked with a loud, angry sigh.  ”Of  course I’m upset! Who wouldn’t be upset at getting up to testify and immediately being told that you probably committed a crime?!”

“We’ve said before that the killer didn’t do anything wrong in this case. It was an incident that had to be taken care of immediately. There wouldn’t have been time to call for police assistance given how immediate the consequences would have been. You are unaccounted for at the time of the crime. You are the most likely suspect, but this isn’t a bad thing at all. You saved lives. This would be considered justified self-defense since you killed the victim knowing that your own life was in danger,” Deirdre went on. Her voice sounded like a lullaby when compared to Nevada’s noisy screeches.

“You don’t need to accuse me of the murder though! A lot of people were unaccounted for at the time of the crime. I’m sure you don’t have a watertight alibi!” Nevada exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Deirdre.

Deirdre didn’t seem bothered by such, shrugging it off and shaking her head. “I do, but this isn’t about me  at the moment . Your lack of an alibi is only one thing that we believe could point you to the time of the crime... But that’s not what we’re talking about now. I want to know more about what  has you so  upset. Even if they were accused of murder, most people wouldn’t get this upset this quickly. I’m not trying to be harsh on you or anything like that. I just want to know the truth,” she said.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone? I haven’t done anything to you, but you’re still insisting on making me confess to a crime that I didn’t commit. I didn’t even have a motive! I’m a little baby! I don’t know anything about killing people!” Nevada cried out.

“You don’t have a motive... That’s what you claim. However, I believe that this statement is false as can be. I think that you do have a motive, and it’s what has you so stressed now. You haven’t said anything about this being your first time out and about,” Deirdre remarked.

“Why would I bring that up? Is that even important?” Nevada asked. “Honestly, I don’t think it is. It’s only relevant to me, and last I heard, I wasn’t relevant to everything else in this case. Of course, you seem to want to say that I am involved with everything in this case, but that’s because you’re acting ridiculous.”

“You acted like the defense was unfamiliar, but you haven’t showed anything like that towards the prosecution. How would you know them if it was your first time out?” Deirdre questioned.

“Uh... I share knowledge with my other side. If she knows of them, then I know of them too,” Nevada replied. “We don’t have the same memories, but basic knowledge is something we share. She’s met them, and that basic knowledge carries over to me whenever I take control of the body. Is that enough of an explanation for you?”

“It seems to run a lot deeper than that... If you ask me, I would say that this isn’t the first time that you’ve acted like Prosecutor Wood. If I had to wager a guess, I would say that you have pretended multiple times in the past, and it was while you were hiding under her name that you were able to meet the other people in the Prosecutor’s Office,” Deirdre went on. “I believe that you have met with them multiple times and have grown to care about them over time, and it is because you care that you involved yourself with this case... And it’s because you care that you’re being caused so much stress by what has happened.”

“How about you explain what you’re talking about instead of dancing around the answer? I’m a baby, and a stupid baby at that. I need you to tell me what’s going on,” Nevada frowned.

“You grew to care about everyone that works in the Prosecutor’s Office since you were forced to spend so much time around them. After spending ages with the other people there, you found yourself starting to care... So, when you saw that they were being threatened by the bomb the victim had tried to place, you jumped into action and decided to take him out,” Deirdre answered. “You did this because you cared about them so much... If you ask me, this explanation fits perfectly for multiple reasons.”

Nevada didn’t do much aside from stare at Deirdre in shock. She looked like she wanted to retort, but she was unable to find the words, so she just stayed quiet. When the words didn’t come to her, she crossed her arms and looked down at her feet. I saw a pout appear on her face. 

“You see, the killer would have come forward in most cases. After all, they wouldn’t get in trouble due to the self-defense aspect of this crime. On top of that, they saved countless lives in the process because they killed the victim. Anybody else who worked in the Prosecutor’s Office would be aware of such since they were experienced with the law. Even the police officers that were on duty investigating the previous crime at the Prosecutor’s Office would know about such, and yet... The killer never came forward despite this undeniable truth,” Deirdre began.

“What does this have to do with me? I’m just a baby. What would I know?” Nevada questioned.

“You wouldn’t know about everything that has to do with a self-defense case. If I had to guess, I would say that your other side takes care of the work aspect of your shared life. You said it yourself a moment ago: you’re a baby. You likely weren’t trained properly on how to be a prosecutor, and that means that you have little ideas on how to handle cases that Prosecutor Wood gets. You know far less about the law, and because of that, you didn’t realize at the time that this case would count as self-defense,” Deirdre replied. “That would say why the culprit never came forward.”

“That still doesn’t mean I did it! For all you know, somebody else killed him! Where’s your proof that I did it?” Nevada asked.

I raised my hand before starting to speak next. “I think I might have another thing that points to you doing it... The bomb. It was  utterly destroyed  from the inside out in an unprofessional job. No bomb squad was called until after the police had been called to see what was going on at the scene. A knife had been used to cut the wires inside the explosive, something few people in law enforcement would want to do. After all, if it went off, it could cause countless issues. Who else would think to cut the bomb’s wires from the inside out?” I questioned.

“So? What does that have to do with me? You’re basically just saying here that I had to be the killer since I’m stupid, but where’s your actual proof of this? Feelings? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. I’m not that dumb, you know. I feel like you’re trying to manipulate me into confessing because you don’t want to admit that you were wrong. You don’t want to try and find the real killer, so you’re trying to get off easy by making me say that I did it when I didn’t,” Nevada said. She was starting to ramble now, and the stress in her voice was easy to hear.

“Nevada, we aren’t trying to manipulate you at all. If we were, we wouldn’t be acting so nice about it,” Deirdre assured her. “We want to find the truth behind this case. The killer won’t be getting in trouble. If you did it, you should just say so to make it easier for yourself and everyone else involved. We wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. We aren’t heartless.”

“Adults like you always lie about these things,” Nevada grumbled. “Not trying to be mean or anything, but adults are horrible sometimes.”

“That sounds pretty mean to me,” Yuri murmured. “I mean, I assume that she has her reasons for saying something like that, but it still doesn’t sound nice, but maybe I’m just missing something here...”

“Nevada, how about we all take a deep breath?” Prosecutor Lin asked, a small smile on her face. “I’m sorry if we’ve stressed you out... Would you go on and tell us about what you were doing at the time of the crime? Please? We want what’s best for you regardless of what you’re about to say to us.”

Nevada looked back and forth between Prosecutor Lin and Deirdre. Judging by the look in her eyes, she was conflicted now, and she swallowed nervously. “I mean... Um... I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I told you...” she said softly.

“I think we’ve found the one way to get her to talk to us... If she was hiding as Prosecutor Wood all this time, she would naturally be around Prosecutor Lin quite a bit. After all, Prosecutor Wood lives with Prosecutor Lin. It would happen eventually... Their meeting, I mean. It was inevitable,” Yuri remarked. “If anyone can get her to open up to the court, it’s going to be her.”

“I suspected as such,” Deirdre admitted. “It makes sense. She must have had some pretty strong emotions regarding the people in the Prosecutor’s Office to act so suddenly when she realized they were in danger. That being said, Prosecutor Lin was probably the one to draw out those feelings as a motherly figure in Nevada’s life.”

“I just hope she’s able to help us reach a full conclusion on this case,” I said quietly before turning my full attention back to the discussion that awaited us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Nevada still
> 
> -Digital


	40. The Explosive Turnabout, Part 10

**April 25**

**Courtroom  No. 5**

**1:15 PM**

**Lily Shield**

"Well, I wasn't in control at first. Niamh was walking out of the Prosecutor's Office at the time, and since I was in her body, I was forced to leave with her. That was when she heard some stirring, so she walked over to where the victim was with the knife and the bomb. Then, she passed out, and I took over," Nevada explained.

"What did you do after you took control of your shared body?" I asked, though I got the feeling I already knew the answer. Her disposition had changed greatly, and I got the feeling that she was finished hiding things from us now that Prosecutor Lin had stepped in with her amazing persuasive skills.

Nevada hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I realized what he was going to do, so I fought him. I grabbed the knife when he set it down, and after that, I... I stabbed him. I didn't know for sure if he was dead, so I kept on stabbing him until he stopped moving. I grabbed the bomb after that and hit it against his head. The door wouldn't open, so I forced it open on his head. I'm not exactly strong enough to force it open, so I had to use his skull... Then I cut the bomb from the inside out, which meant it couldn't go off anymore," she explained, swallowing and looking down at the floor. I have to admit, I felt kind of bad for her. I wouldn't have if she had killed an innocent person, but she had saved lives by killing Cormous (if that was even his real name), and for that, I was happy to go easy on her.

"So, this is your way of confessing to the crime," Judge Frost realized, nodding slowly. "I can't say I'm surprised, given what we had heard up to this point... Go on though. What else did you do at the time of the murder?"

"Well, I was absolutely covered in blood... I say that, but I really mean that Niamh's jacket was covered with blood, so I had to get rid of it. I tossed it into the cellar underneath the Prosecutor's Office and ran upstairs. I was really tired, so I wound up falling asleep on the couch in the hallway. That was when Niamh took control again, so I don't remember anything after that," Nevada explained.

"Cellar?" I asked in surprise. "I didn't realize there was a space like that underneath the Prosecutor's Office. How long has that been around?"

"Since it was made," Prosecutor Cruz replied. "You see, they store evidence down there that's sensitive to temperature. There's a fridge inside that can be used to keep stuff cold. It's not used too particularly often, but most of the people who work there know that it exists. My guess is that Nevada here found out about it through word of mouth one time while she was out and in control."

"Yeah, you got it... I figured it would be the best place to hide something that I didn't want anybody to find since not many people would think to look down there. I mean, you just said you didn't realize it existed," Nevada pointed out, casting her gaze over to me, Yuri, and Deirdre for a moment.

"You're officially saying that you killed the victim then," Judge Frost murmured, nodding slowly. "I understand now. Do you know what this means, witness?"

Nevada hesitated before sighing. "Look, I don't think I should get in trouble for this. He was going to blow up the building, so I killed him before he had the chance to do so. Should I really be shamed for something like that? I'm sorry I didn't tell everybody about that little bit sooner, but I thought you were lying to me to get me to do what you wanted. A lot of people have done that before, and I'm tired of dealing with it. You can't blame me for not talking about it when I grew up hearing that talking about it was a bad idea. You should just ask the people I was with before all of this happened. I just--"

Prosecutor Lin held up one hand to silence her. "Nevada, it's okay. We understand. While your attempts to try and hide the crime are something to remember, we know it was because you didn't understand how the system would work for something like this. I think we can work to get you a light sentence, if you get a sentence at all, with all that we're aware of. Your confession is a good thing, you know. If you had tried to hide it much more, we would have had some issues, but you told us everything when you realized it was safe to do so," she told Nevada.

Nevada stared at her in surprise, a small smile appearing on her face. I could have sworn I saw her eyes glazing over with tears. A few seconds later, I was proven correct as the tears fell, and Nevada sniffled loudly. She rubbed one hand across her face. "Aw, thanks, Mama!" she exclaimed.

Prosecutor Lin gasped, her hands going over her mouth. "Mama? That's so sweet... I guess I had more of an impact on you than I thought... I suppose I am the only parent you've ever known, so it would make sense if you wanted to call me that... How kind of you," she whispered, smiling to herself.

Nevada flushed pink at being called out on it. "Don't tell anybody about this," she said, sinking down into the collar of her shirt. Her voice was muffled by the fabric.

"I make no promises," Prosecutor Lin smiled, winking to Nevada. "You're a real sweetheart, you know."

Nevada stared at her, blinking a few times. "I am...?"

Prosecutor Lin nodded brightly, opening her mouth to speak.

"I just have one question," Prosecutor Cruz declared, cutting off Prosecutor Lin quickly. Prosecutor Lin looked at him with a small frown, but he kept on, either not noticing or not caring.

"What is it?" I asked, getting the chance to talk for one of the first times since this confession conversation had started up.

"I want to know who killed the victim in the previous case. It clearly wasn't the witness. She doesn't fit the description offered at the trial for the other murder," Prosecutor Cruz frowned, crossing his arms. It didn't take me long to remember why he wanted to know the truth. After all, the victim from that case was his father, someone he looked up to and adored. Of course he would want to hear about who had been the killer in that case.

I looked over to Yuri and Deirdre, frowning to myself. I didn't know what to say about that, even if we knew the truth. Was it really a good idea to say so outwardly? It could easily result in disaster, and we wouldn't know if things had gone downhill until too late. I searched their eyes for some clues as to what we should do, what choice we should make, but I found nothing, and it made me sigh deeply.

"Did we find anything out regarding the previous case during the investigation yesterday?" Robbie asked, looking over to me with a small frown. He could tell something was wrong, and for once, I hated how well he understood me. He simply knew me too well for me to be able to lie about something like this.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say. Could I really just spout the truth knowing fully well it could be dangerous? I mean, if the Emsthorpes weren't going to get violent over him now that he was dead, it wouldn't hurt to speak up and say that I knew who had killed the victim of the previous case, right? After all, there was no way for Cormous to get charged now that he was dead, and the Emsthorpes couldn't change that fact. They had no choice but to abandon him now that he had kicked unter bucket thanks to Nevada. In a way, I was glad we had the girl and her obsession with sharp objects, as she had not only saved lives, but was going to make this decision about telling the court about Cormous a lot easier on my part.

I took in a deep breath. "The defense believes the victim of this case killed the victim of the previous murder at the Prosecutor's Office. He fits the description offered by the lawyers who were on the previous case, has no alibi, and was planning to blow up the building where the crime took place. All of this is heavily suspicious when put together, and I believe it points to the victim of this case being guilty of far more than we originally expected," I explained.

Prosecutor Cruz stared at me in shock at first, but after a few seconds, he seemed to calm down, and I got the feeling he was realizing just how plausible my theory was. Well, I say it was a theory even if we had already gotten confirmation from Prosecutor Daegana about the truth behind the previous case, but nobody else was allowed to do that. Prosecutor Cruz's mouth opened and closed, and he looked down for a moment. "It all make sense now..." he murmured.

"You think this theory is correct then?" Judge Frost asked, looking to Prosecutor Cruz with a small frown.

Prosecutor Cruz nodded. "Yeah. It does make sense. We realized that the culprit was a man who wasn't supposed to be there. He didn't work at the Prosecutor's Office. The culprit was also deduced to be a man that stands at roughly the same height as the victim from the previous case, and as far as I can tell, they're pretty similar in height. There was no known alibi for the Mr. Arme because people didn't realize he was involved with the previous case, meaning he could have done it without anybody asking him since he simply never appeared at the crime scene again," he said.

"Plus, this explains why the victim wanted to plant the bomb in the Prosecutor's Office. He wanted to be able to get rid of the evidence from the murder he had committed recently, and he seemed to think that was the best way to do so. Up until now, we didn't know why he would have wanted to plant a bomb there, but with this explanation, everything seems to fall into place," I continued. "It all makes sense if we picture Cormous as the victim from the previous case. It slips in a bit too well... And it seems to me that's our only solution."

"The previous case makes so much more sense if you look at it like that... Even without planting the bomb though, he probably would have gotten away with it, as there simply wasn't enough evidence for anyone to try and pin him down," Prosecutor Lin remarked. "How did you guys figure this out? Did you do some minor investigating on the previous case during yesterday's session?"

"We spoke to a witness who had this theory, and after we finished our conversation with him, we realized how much sense it made. He's going to be approaching the police after this trial ends to officially close the previous case. Granted, no charges can be pressed now that the killer has been murdered, but I still think it's good that we end this case and wrap up loose ends while we can," I explained. "Nevada, how much of this did you know when you first saw the victim before you killed him?"

Nevada shrugged and shook her head. "None of it. I just realized he had a bomb on him," she replied bluntly. "If there was more to it, I would have told you by now."

"I do wish that we had been able to hear from this witness who told you about the suspect behind the previous killing, but if I had to guess, I would say that they aren't here," Judge Frost remarked. "Besides, it's not vital or anything. I'm sure that they can go to the police, and the case can be closed from there. I think everyone in this courtroom knows the truth behind the previous killing now and sees that the victim from the current case was the one who was responsible at the time."

"He's lucky that he's already dead... If he was still alive, I'd do everything to make sure that he got as heavy a sentence as possible," Prosecutor Cruz grumbled. "You did good, Nevada."

Nevada's eyes lit up like a kid's on their birthday at hearing that. "Aw, thanks! You're too nice. I just did what any good law-abiding citizen would have done. You know, some people really overlook the times where it's necessary to take a knife and just beat the stuffing out of someone, you know?" she commented, her voice much too casual to be talking about something so gruesome.

I looked to Yuri and Deirdre for a moment. "I don't know if I should be relaxed at hearing her say that given what we just learned or terrified that she has that mindset in the first place... It's not like this case set a good example for her... If she really is mentally three years old or there about, we're going to need to put her in preschool and tell her killing people is bad most of the time," I told them. 

"Well, I believe that about wraps up the loose ends on this case... Perhaps it's time for me to hand down my verdict on the defendant's innocence," Judge Frost declared. She looked to the opposite side of the courtroom from where I was standing. "Does the prosecution have any objections?"

Prosecutor Lin looked back and forth between Robbie and Prosecutor Cruz. For once, there didn't seem to be a power struggle budding between them, and I had to commend how much they had grown up over the span of the previous few days. I couldn't help but smile to myself at the thought. "The prosecution has no objections, Your Honor," Prosecutor Lin finally declared.

Judge Frost looked over to where Yuri, Deirdre, and I were standing next. She didn't even have to ask to get her answer. "The defense has no objections either, Your Honor," I told her with a small, warm smile.

Judge Frost nodded, taking her gavel up into one hand and letting it wait a few inches above the podium before her. "Well, if that's the case... This court hereby finds the defendant, Victoria von Graye, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" she announced. She let the gavel fall, sending an echo throughout the courtroom as chatter began. I got my evidence together with a smile and headed for the door, a skip in my step and a song in my heart.

**April 25**

**Defendant Lobby No. 5**

**2:15 PM**

**Lily Shield**

When I stepped out of the courtroom and into the defendant lobby, I couldn't help but let out a lengthy sigh of relief. I was so happy that this case was over. Now that we didn't have much else to worry about, then I could go back to the agency. The traitor situation had been solved, and Cormous was gone for good. At one point, I would have taken this time to grieve for him since I had been his friend while he was still alive, but those times were gone now. The Cormous I had known had never existed in the first place, instead just being a lie meant to deceive and harm me and those I cared about. I would never be able to forgive him for such, but I didn't have to. He could rot in hell for all I cared.

Yuri threw her arms around Victoria once we were in the clear. "I'm so glad that you're okay!" she chirped, grinning widely. "I mean, I know that it's all thanks to us that you finally got the chance to come back okay, but... You know what I mean. I'm happy that you're free to go about your life like this whole mess never happened. No more worries about any traitors either. We've figured out who the sneak was, and he's already gotten what he deserved.  Everything is fine now!"

Victoria smiled to Yuri. "I'm only in this situation because of you all... If you hadn't been there, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened. In an odd way, the police were right about the supposed motive they had set forward. It was all about the traitor situation... They suspected I had killed him because I thought he was the traitor or he had figured out I was the traitor... The first one wound up having some truth to it. I may not have committed the crime, but they figured out who the traitor was before anybody else did," she remarked.

"It's funny how things turn out like that," Mr. Morix commented, walking up to us with his arms crossed. "I suppose we should have known it would wind up going like this, but... I don't know. It's a lot to think about, I guess. I feel horrible that I brought such a figure into the agency when it caused this many problems, even if I couldn't have known at the time. I'm just glad we were able to find out the truth sooner rather than later. It can't tear us apart if he's not on this planet anymore to bother us. Plus, he's dead, meaning he can't report any information he was looking for back to whoever sent him into the agency in the first place."

"We really do owe a lot to Nevada," Chrysalis said. "If she hadn't been there to take care of him for us... I don't want to imagine where we would be now. For one, the Prosecutor's Office would have crumbled, and if it went down, there would have been no ways to track him down since all the evidence would have been destroyed. On top of that, he would be able to use the ensuing chaos to dig deeper than he should have been able to into the affairs of the agency. It all would have gone downhill from there, but since he's no longer around to cause such issues... We're all in the clear. I don't think I've ever been so thankful for such."

"I think I'm going to have to talk to Nevada on my own time to tell her about everything you just said," Deirdre told her, placing one hand on her chin as she spoke.

Chrysalis looked up at her with a heavy frown. "You can't be serious... Why would you tell her all that?" she asked. "And what do I have to do with any of this? Keep me out of your thank you card to the killer."

"I merely wish to cite my sources on who said it," Deirdre assured her. "I agree with everything that you said just now, Chrysalis. I won't be using that against you or anything. Nevada did a lot to help us out in this situation... In fact, I would say that she's the single killer we've encountered up to this point that hasn't been a huge pain."

"Well, you won't have to go looking for her after all," Yuri remarked, pointing behind Deirdre and Chrysalis. 

I peered over the girls' shoulders to see that Yuri was right. Nevada was walking in, Prosecutor Lin in tow. Nevada was connected to her adopted mother by Prosecutor Lin's hand, which was clasping her shoulder gently. It was a sight I never expected to see, but I was happy to be there to witness it. I felt a small smile creep its way across my face, and I didn't know how to fully express my joy at seeing them together like that. How sweet it was to see... 

"Hey there," Mr. Morix said, waving Prosecutor Lin and Nevada over. "We were just talking about you."

"What?" Nevada asked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. Despite the drastic height difference, she didn't seem scared of him at all. I was impressed with that, to be perfectly honest. When I had first met Mr. Morix, I had been intimidated since he was so tall, and I was far from meeting his height. Nevada was a lot more gutsy than I had expected... Granted, I don't know what I had expected in the first place, as she was a bit of a special case. After all, what killer wouldn't be gutsy? Even in this case, when the phrase 'killer' didn't really have a bad connotation, I still found myself staring at her in surprise. She truly was an enigma... 

"We just wanted to say how thankful we are for what you did at the time of the murder," Deirdre told her with a small, warm smile.

Nevada glared up at her. "You again! Hey, let's make one thing clear, tall one! I'm not your friend. You pressed me when I said I didn't want to be pressed. Court of law or not, that's against the code every human should know! If you want to be my friend, you'll have to make it up to me, and I doubt you'll be able to do that for quite some time. You dug this hole for yourself, and you'll have to live in it now," she told Deirdre. Her words were coming out at a million miles an hour, and I was lucky to be able to comprehend them as they were coming out of her mouth.

Deirdre looked down at the girl with wide eyes. Of all the responses she had expected, that sure hadn't been one. She blinked a few times before letting an awkward smile appear on her face. It was one of the few times I had seen Deirdre looking so opposed to social interaction, and it was odd to witness. Part of me wondered if I should even be staring at her in this state. Even so, I kept looking, unable to tear my eyes away. A little voice in the back of my head told me to take a picture of this while I still had the chance, but I couldn't bring my fingers to reach for my phone.

"We are rivals from this point out!" Nevada proclaimed boldly, placing her hands on her hips. Once again, fearlessness was in her eyes, and I was impressed with her a second time in two minutes. "Until next we meet, tall one!"

Deirdre stared at Nevada with confusion for a few seconds longer before holding up her hands in surrender and taking a step back. "I think I give up," she said, sighing to herself. "One of you can talk to her now. I don't think she would listen even if I was going to compliment her... After all, I am her 'rival' now."

Chrysalis let out a small laugh to herself. "I don't know how I expected this conversation to end, but I didn't anticipate it would go in that direction... Nevada, thank you for what you have done. It truly means a lot to everyone here. I don't know what we would do without you, but I doubt things would have gone well had you not been present to eliminate Cormous... If that even his real name, which I somehow doubt," she told Nevada. "The point is, we all really appreciate what you did, and if you ever find yourself needing something, we're happy to help you out. I somehow doubt you're going to turn around and suddenly become a horrible person after what you did to save countless lives, so we'll support you no matter what."

Now, it was Nevada's turn to look at somebody in surprise. "Wow... That's a lot nicer than I expected you to be," she said, still not tearing her eyes away from Chrysalis. "I do have to ask though... Have we met before?" 

Chrysalis looked at Nevada for a moment before furiously shaking her head. "No... Never. We've never met before now. I didn't even realize you existed up to this point, so how could we have met if I wasn't aware of your existence? I wouldn't even say I'm particularly close to your other side," she told Nevada. I couldn't see any signs of panic on her face or in her voice, but her shoulders got weirdly tense out of nowhere. It was concerning, to say the least. Was she lying about this? If so, why did she feel the need to hide the truth?

Nevada didn't seem bothered by it though. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders loosely. "Cool... Mama, can we go home? I'm tired," Nevada remarked, looking up at Prosecutor Lin. When the eye contact broke, I saw Chrysalis' posture collapse in on itself in relief, and I frowned to myself. Judging by the look on Deirdre's face, she had noticed it as well.

Prosecutor Lin nodded with a pleasant smile. "Alright. Sure. I'll see you all later. Have a nice rest of your day," Prosecutor Lin said. She took Nevada's hand in her own and started to walk towards the door. 

Everybody in our little cluster waved back. I watched as she disappeared before turning to Chrysalis. I pulled up my pointer and middle fingers to make a gesture to Chrysalis, showing her that I was watching her. She looked at me with an unreadable expression for a moment before looking away, focusing her attention back to Mr. Morix. 

"Perhaps we should follow her lead. We all have other places to be now for sure," Yuri remarked. "I know that I want to go home and rest after all that... Plus, I need to be ready for tomorrow. Now that the traitor has been taken care of, we're allowed to go into the agency again for work. That means I need to be nice and rested for my first day back on the job."

I nodded, a bright smile appearing on my face. "Yeah... You're right! We can finally go back to how things used to be!" I exclaimed, resisting the urge to pump my fist into the air in excitement. I didn't want to cause a scene in the middle of the courthouse though, so I kept my hand down. "I'll see you all later!"

In the moments that followed, everyone bid each other farewell before heading off in their separate directions. I couldn't help but smile to myself on the way out. Things were finally going back to normal after weeks of endless suffering. 

I finally had a place to call my second home again, and I couldn't be happier about it.

**April 25**

**Unknown Location**

**Unknown Time**

**Unknown Perspective**

I walked into the living room of my home once again, a woman at my side. I hadn't been able to be in there with her in longer than I would have liked, but life was back to normal now. Everything was returning to the way it had been before this mess kicked off, and I couldn't keep my smile off my face. She seemed to be much the same way, something I realized as we sat down on the couch next to each other. 

She nestled up against me, placing her head in the crook of my neck. I hugged her tightly, relieved to have her in my arms again. It had been too long since we had been given the chance to hold each other like this, even if in the grand scheme of things, it hadn't been a horribly long time. However, we were both naturally affectionate people, and even a short period of time without one another felt excruciating.

"I missed you," I told her, unsure of what else to say on the matter. I mean, she knew that I missed her, so she didn't need to hear it from me, but at the same time, I got the feeling she liked hearing it. In a way, it was reassurance that I still cared about her after the mess that our lives had been thrown into over the course of the past few days.

She smiled and pressed a brief, sweet kiss to my cheek. I held her a bit closer, if that was even possible, closing my eyes and letting the silence speak for itself. Sometimes, silence can speak louder than any words ever could. Declarations of love mean nothing if the quiet can't say all that you're thinking when nobody wants to talk. 

"Are you ever going to introduce yourself to them?" she asked softly. "It seemed as if you were avoiding them the entire time we were there, honey."

I paused for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that. I didn't want to make her unhappy by giving an honest answer, but I didn't want to tell her that I was going to come forward about it either. After all, each result was bound to end in disaster some way or another, and I wasn't eager to plunge into the messiness that awaited me.

She didn't wait for a response. Instead, she squeezed my hand a bit tighter. "That's okay... Take your time. I know that you make all your decisions meaningfully, and I trust you with what choices you make. You're an adult. You can think for yourself without me forcing it down your throat."

I swallowed the sob that threatened to rise in my throat at her kind words. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," came her gentle reply. 

And in that moment, I was the happiest I had been in a long time. I didn't know how else to describe it, but that moment was perfect bliss, and I wouldn't give it up for the world.

**THE EXPLOSIVE TURNABOUT**

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Case fun
> 
> Case good
> 
> -Digital


	41. Turnabout Below, Part 1

"Finally... I think I might have found an answer. It took far longer than I would have liked, but it's better late than never... Here goes."

_CREEEEEEAK..._

"It worked! Color me impressed... Ms. Fence? Are you in here? ... A fridge? I never heard anything about there being an appliance down here... Might as well get into it... Wait... Is that...?! No way!!"

**May 29**

**Morix Law Offices**

**10:25 AM**

**Cotoli Morix**

It had been some time since the last case the agency had taken on. The harm done by Cormous was still present, but the wounds were finally starting to fade away. For one, everyone who had stopped coming by the agency due to the threat of a traitor had returned. Life at the agency was falling into the same routine it had been in back before the Emsthorpe case. At long last, I thought the universe might be tipping toward a state of normality after what felt like ages of tumultuous chaos.

I was sitting on the couch in the main collaborative workspace of the agency, doing some paperwork on a clipboard. As much as I liked being in my office, I needed a change of scenery every once in a while, and this seemed to be one of those times. The sound of the pen scratching was all I needed to hear, and it was the only noise piercing the silence. The scrawling of the ink on the paper could get a bit irritating to some people, but to me, it was comforting in a way I couldn't describe.

I wasn't looking forward to doing anything out of the ordinary when Victoria came out into the main space. She sat down beside me and frowned. "Mr. Morix, have you heard anything about a case involving somebody going missing as of late?" she asked.

I looked up from my work and nodded slowly. "Which one are you talking about?" Disappearances were unfortunately much more common than they should have been, and after a while of constantly hearing about a million different cases, it was hard to tell them all apart.

"A lawyer by the name of Dee Fence went missing a few months ago. She was apparently the lead attorney at an agency called Blocker Law. It's been quite some time since she has been seen, and I still get notifications every once in a while that the search is continuing for her. I was planning on talking about it after the Emsthorpe case ended, but... We all know how that turned out," Victoria said with an awkward laugh.

"And after we came back together, you got busy focusing on other things given that we missed out on so much as a group," I continued. "That's why you haven't brought it up until just now."

Victoria smiled and nodded. "You got it. I know it's a bit late to mention now, especially given that she went missing around the time of the nature preserve case all that time ago, but it's better to bring it up late rather than never," she told me.

"I agree... I hope the search for her is going well though. It's horrible when someone goes missing. Oftentimes, part of me fears they're gone because they have died... I don't like that my thought process works in this way, but I guess I've become jaded after so many years of working in the legal world," I frowned, shaking my head.

Part of me thought briefly of Pieter as I said these things. He had gone missing a few years ago, and nobody had seen him in ages. I didn't want to say for sure that he had died when there was still a question mark surrounding his current location, but my fears were catching up to me with each day that he was still gone. I didn't want to believe that something bad had happened to him, but it was hard to keep such thoughts at bay as the seconds, minutes, and hours ticked by. I knew Chrysalis didn't want to admit such was the case either, but I could tell that her hope was diminishing slowly as well.

Luckily, I didn't have long to dwell on such negative thoughts. I was snapped out of my trance when the door to the area burst open. I frowned to myself and turned around to see who had opened the entrance so forcefully. I set down my paperwork, pen, and clipboard on the nearby table before getting to my feet.

"Anton... And Ghastly," I remarked, my eyes wide in shock. Of all the people I had expected, they were near the bottom of my list. I walked around the couch to properly greet them. "What brings you here? I didn't expect to see you at this time of day ever. Did something bad happen?"

Ghastly looked down at Anton for a moment, and I saw tears welling up in his eyes. That told me all I needed to know about how bad the situation was. Even so, I bit my tongue and didn't say anything, waiting for Ghastly to fully explain it.

"Polly was arrested for murder," Ghastly told me after taking a while to ponder his words. "Obviously, she didn't do it, but... We need somebody to defend her from the charges, and I think you're the best person for the job."

I gasped in shock. Polly? I couldn't believe it. The last time I had seen her was two days ago when she said she was going to be investigating more into a case at the request of a high-ranking detective. After that, she left to take care of business, and I didn't think anything of it since that was just how her job worked.

Now, I was hearing that she had been arrested for murder. I wasn't sure how I was expecting her investigation to go, but this was far from what I could have ever anticipated. I didn't even know how to fully articulate a response to hearing about this so suddenly.

"You're as surprised as we were," Ghastly remarked, shaking his head. "Who do you want to bring with you on this case?"

I looked over my shoulder. Victoria had been watching silently up to this point, and our eyes locked. "Victoria? Do you want to come with me to work on this case?" I questioned.

Victoria smiled and nodded. "I would be happy to help. When are we leaving to investigate? When would we even be allowed to go investigate without getting in the way of the police looking around?" she asked.

"I can't say. I'm afraid I don't know much about the details of the case right now, but I'm sure that we'll figure it out at some point," Ghastly frowned. "Maybe check out the TV. If you turn it on, there might be some news channel talking about it."

The door opened behind Ghastly and Anton. I peered around them to see Chrysalis walking in, her phone in one hand. "Hello, you two. What brings you here?" she inquired, though I could tell she was busy thinking about other things. She practically had her phone in a death grip, her knuckles going pale under the pressure.

"They're here to ask that we defend Polly from a murder charge," I began. "She was arrested as a suspect for murder while out on her most recent investigation, though I'm not entirely sure what that investigation was all about."

"Well, maybe I can enlighten you," Chrysalis frowned. She held up her phone, worming her way around everyone to stand at the center of the room. She gestured for everyone to come in close around her as she pulled up a news article on the screen. I read the headline silently.

"'Disappeared Lawyer Resurfaces Dead in Cellar Below Her Agency'," Victoria read. "Dee Fence... Wasn't she a lawyer?"

I nodded. "She was, as a matter of fact... Following the incident that killed the previous owner of Blocker Law, Jackson Blocker, she took over from the chaos to offer some order. But now... I don't know what could have possibly happened to have her winding up dead below her own agency, but if you ask me, it had to be something serious if it had her killed... What has you bringing this case to us, Chrysalis?" I questioned, tearing my eyes from the phone to look at her.

"For one, it's Blocker Law. I feel like we're all a little interested about that place deep down," Chrysalis replied, looking up at me. Judging by the look in her eye, she was talking about how it was connected to Oracle, which Ghastly and I were fully aware of. "On top of that, somebody was arrested for the case. There's no name listed in the article, but if we went down there to check it out, we would be given a suspect. From there, we could decide on what we want to do with the case."

"Wait a moment... If the person Chief Prosecutor Bespoke wants us to defend was arrested after something happened during their investigation... Isn't it possible that the case Chrysalis mentioned is the one that she was arrested as a suspect as?" Victoria questioned. "I can't say for sure since I don't know exactly what she was investigating, but... I think it's possible."

"She n-never talked about it m-much..." Anton stammered, speaking up for the first time during the conversation. "I-I think she told m-me to b-be careful so I d-don't go m-missing too..."

"If you ask me, that sounds like a disappearing case. Since this headline describes a disappeared lawyer who resurfaced dead... It seems to me like it's very possible that she was investigating the disappearance of Dee Fence only to discover the body of the very person she was looking for," Chrysalis said, crossing her arms and frowning to herself.

"I have to wonder how somebody like her could have died... I mean, she was obviously missing for a long time, and if she was alive all that time, it's odd that nobody ever found her. If you want my opinion, there's some kind of foul play involved," Ghastly remarked.

"There has to be... Not many people can hide from the world for that long. It would be difficult at best and borderline impossible at worst. All we can do is get down there and see what this case is hiding," I told everyone.

"Something odd is going on here... Call it a gut instinct. Either way, I'm going to ignore that feeling for the time being, because we have business to attend to sooner rather than later. Anton, Ghastly... Thank you for your help in telling us about what happened with Polly," I said, looking to them and nodding.

"It's no problem. I don't want there to be any issues with her getting convicted of something she didn't do. I know she can be a little bit crabby at times, but she's got a good heart underneath all that, and we both know she would never go so far as to commit murder, regardless of what the circumstances may be," Ghastly declared. "I just wish I knew what was going on here in full. As it is, everything seems to be a messy buzz. I'm the chief prosecutor, and I still haven't gotten any major breaks in the case. I have to assign a prosecutor for the case still, but I don't exactly know enough to make a good choice yet. I know I tend to procrastinate a lot, but... It's frustrating when I'm on the receiving end of it."

"I never thought I would hear you say that," I remarked with a small shrug and laugh. "Part of me thought you would be a procrastinator forever, but I get the feeling this case might have you changing your tune regardless of how many years you've had that bad habit."

Ghastly sighed. "Perhaps my stubbornness towards my procrastination is finally going to come to a close... I can't say for sure, and I would suggest that none of you hold your breath. Only time can tell what I decide to do with that, and I think deliberation on it can wait until after we've finished working with this case," he said, yawning to himself. "We have bigger fish to fry at the moment, don't we? Besides, Polly wouldn't want to miss everybody nagging me about breaking my procrastination habit when she's been trying to do that for as long as either one of us can remember."

"Is she going t-to be back soon...?" Anton asked, looking up at me and Ghastly with concern and fear in his eyes.

I nodded. "Don't worry at all, Anton. She'll be home before you know it. I'll make sure she's back soon," I told him. I placed one hand on his shoulder and pulled him in a bit closer. I could tell that he wanted a hug in that moment. In fact, he needed it. I let one hand rest on the back of his head while the other stroked his upper back slowly.

Anton wasn't sure about it at first, but a few seconds later, he threw his arms around me and started to cry openly. He couldn't get any words out, but I didn't need to hear anything from him. I just wanted to help him feel a little bit better, and that didn't require any verbal communication.

Ghastly gently pulled Anton away from me to hug him tightly. I watched with a small, tender smile. I felt bad for Anton, but I was incredibly happy that he had a support system full of people who cared about him so much. Even if I had other business to take care of to save Polly, Chrysalis and Ghastly had time to spare to help him out.

"I'm going to go and investigate the case to make sure that Polly comes home soon, okay?" I told Anton. When he nodded silently, face pressed against Ghastly's torso even still, I looked to Victoria and nodded. She followed my gesture and walked out of the room, and I started to follow her, though I kept one eye on the three people we were leaving behind. I wanted to see what they were going to do.

Chrysalis saw Anton wasn't going to be stopping his tears anytime soon, and she walked up to where he was standing with Ghastly. She wrapped her arms around them both and rocked Anton back and forth gently to calm him down. His cries slowly got softer until they were barely audible.

I smiled to myself. He was in good hands. I trusted Ghastly and Chrysalis to take care of him, and while they were busy, I was going to make sure Polly was okay. A lot had happened, but I was going to stop it before it got too out of hand.

**May 29**

**Blocker Law Offices**

**11:00 AM**

**Victoria von Graye**

When we got to the agency, I glanced around and frowned to myself. There were so many people here that it was almost suffocating. I didn't know how we would be able to walk around if there were this many police officers. Part of me feared we would be stopped at the door and asked for our badges, so I looked up to Mr. Morix. He didn't seem to be bothered by this at all, so I swallowed and stowed my fear to the best of my ability. I let my hands clench into fists as we walked closer, praying nobody thought I was acting weird. After all, if they thought I was being weird, they could get suspicious of me when I didn't do anything wrong.

All in all, I had already learned one thing since arriving here at the crime scene. I had already taken on one case, yes, but my confidence certainly didn't match what a lawyer with a successful case under their belt should have. 

By some miracle, nobody stopped us on the way into the building. I took this as a silent victory and watched as Mr. Morix opened the door for me. I thanked him with a small nod before walking in side.

Oh, boy. If I thought the outside was crowded, the lobby was even worse. 

I could hardly contain my surprise at seeing so many people crammed into such a small space. The little voice in the back of my head told me how hot it had gotten all of a sudden. I liked being around people, yes, but it got to be too much way too quickly when there were so many people in this small of a space. The combined heat of every person in the lobby felt like it was attacking me. I focused on digging my nails into my palms to keep from stressing out too much. I was an adult now. I couldn't let myself get bothered by a hot lobby when there were clearly other, much more pressing matters to think about first. 

I followed Mr. Morix away from the lobby, thankfully enough. However, we seemed to be going to the source of all these people. There was a door nearby with a set of stairs heading down below the level of the entrance. Underground? What in the world were we going to be doing down there?

That was when it hit me. The headline we saw talked about how the body was found below a law agency. I wasn't entirely sure what that could imply, but it seemed to me now that there was a basement or other bottom floor that had the body stowed away in it. I couldn't help but wonder what all this meant for our case, but I got the feeling we were going to be finding out soon enough, whether we liked it or not. Even if the facts about this case changed drastically from what we originally expected, one thing would never change: my eternal, debilitating anxiety.

When we got there, I could see two figures that stood out against the crowd. They were the only ones not wearing the regular uniform of the police station. Mr. Morix regarded them with a small smile of familiarity, but he didn't take to talking to them immediately. I couldn't see the two people completely due to the swarm of police officers covering the room, but I did my best to peek my head in between figures when I could. After realizing this was pointless, I let out a small sigh of sadness and frustration before following Mr. Morix's silent direction to look around the room.

It was crowded, to say the least. The paint on the walls was a brown color, and it was peeling rather horribly. There were pipes sticking out of the floor and walls, something I hadn't originally expected upon walking in. There was a small hallway leading deeper into the floor, but I couldn't tell what was inside it. A secondary door blocked the way into the hall, and all I could get a glimpse of was the black paint that covered the entrance. A voice in the back of my head told me to worm over there and see what was going on, but I couldn't do that given how many people were around. Instead, I let Mr. Morix take my hand and guide me through the crowd before settling down next to the pair of odd figures in the clump.

"Detective Erikson. Detective Hayes," Mr. Morix greeted, nodding to them both.

I gasped upon looking up to the taller of the two figures. I knew him well from the case that had divided us a few months ago. Realistically, I knew it hadn't been too long, but it had felt like ages in my time of sadness. 

"Detective Erikson!" I exclaimed. "It's nice to see you again." I bowed my head with a small smile. 

Detective Erikson smiled in return and nodded to both me and Mr. Morix. "I'm glad to see you two here. Ms. von Graye, I don't think I ever thanked you for what you did for me a few months ago. Thank you again," he told me.

I flushed at the sudden attention. "Oh... It's nothing... I just did what anyone else would have done. I'm happy that I was able to help you out of a tight spot. That's what we do as lawyers, right? I would be pretty bad at my job if I wasn't able to get you away from that situation," I said in response. I could tell my mouth was running for a lot longer than I wanted, but I somehow couldn't get myself to stop talking. In the end, I had to clap my teeth down against my bottom lip to keep from going on. If not for teeth, we would have been there all day. For the first time in my life, I am thanking evolution for teeth.

"Speaking of our duties as lawyers, we're here because we're considering defending the defendant on this case. Could you tell us who it is? We weren't exactly told before coming here," Mr. Morix said. It took me a moment, but I realized why his language was kept ambiguous. He wanted to make sure the option to back out was still there in case our gut instinct about Prosecutor Burke being the suspect was wrong. If he was right, then he had a claim to say he was on the case as well. How smart of him. 

"Polly Burke. You've met her before," Detective Erikson replied. "She was the main investigator looking into the disappearance of the victim, Dee Fence. She wound up finding what she was looking for, but not in the way you would expect... In fact, a lot about this case is unexpected or otherwise strange. I don't even know where to begin on explaining everything we've learned so far in our investigation."

"How about you tell us how the victim died? That's something important for us to know, right?" I started, tapping my chin with one finger. "Do you have the autopsy report yet?"

"The victim was stabbed in the chest once with a knife. She died instantly as far as we're aware since her heart was pierced by the knife," Detective Hayes answered. "It's the autopsy report that's giving us a bit more trouble though... How exactly do I say this...?"

"You can do it," Detective Erikson told him, nudging him gently with one shoulder. A small smile of encouragement was on his face, and I'm not going to lie, it was heartwarming to see."

Detective Hayes nodded. "Yes... The autopsy report hasn't been made yet. In fact, it can't be made for quite a while," he explained.

I looked up to Mr. Morix in surprise before focusing my attention back on the pair of detectives standing before us. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?" I asked. I don't know why that question was the first one to come out given that it was obvious something was wrong. If the autopsy report couldn't be finished, there had to be something going on, and I doubted whatever it was could go in our favor.

"We can't get one key part of the autopsy report written down. We know name, age, and the cause of death. We're missing the time of death, and the forensics team doesn't want to release the autopsy report until they have all the details they need. If they have to go on without it, that's alright, but they don't want to do it until they think they have no choice," Detective Hayes told us.

"The time of death... Is there something that's making the time of death so difficult to figure out in this case?" I asked. Wanting to avoid getting weird looks, I spoke again, my pinks tinted lightly pink. "I don't know much about forensics, so you'll have to excuse me for needing an explanation..."

"It's alright. It takes a while to get to understand at first," Detective Erikson assured me with a small smile. "I know that it took me a long time to comprehend what was going on when the forensics team started to talk."

"In all honesty, I still don't understand what they're on about half the time," I heard Detective Hayes mutter under his breath with a shake of his head. "It's okay not to get it. Besides... Detective Erikson is happy to explain this to you. Isn't that right?"

Detective Erikson stared at him for a moment before letting out a small chuckle and shrugging loosely. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I told you. The time of death can't be determined because of the state the body was found in. If a body is found in overly warm or cool temperatures, it's nearly impossible to determine the time of death. In order to estimate a time of death, the forensics team looks at how long it has been since the body was at its regular temperature. The corpse in this case was found inside a fridge, meaning the temperature it would be at otherwise is impossible to determine. There's no way of saying how long it was in there, which is leaving the forensics team at a bit of a roadblock. It's hard to determine the time of death when there's no concrete temperature to look at in the investigation," he explained.

"I see... I assume the same applies the other way around. If the body is in overly hot temperatures, it's hard to figure out, I would assume... It's not like I can say for sure, so I guess I'll just leave it up to the experts. They obviously know a lot more about it than I ever could," I shrugged.

"Since the body was in an incredibly cold environment, it's impossible to figure out when it was last at a regular temperature. That means the forensics team is stumped, and if they can't figure this out, then that means that we can't get the autopsy report out. Without the autopsy report, it's hard to figure out much regarding what happened at the time of the murder. We'll simply have to go on without it until the forensics team is ready to release it. It's best not to pressure them. We want to stay on their good side," Detective Erikson told us.

"What had the body in such cold temperatures? I wouldn't have expected to find a body hidden under a building in such extreme cold. It must have been incredibly chilly in order to distort the work of the forensics team that much," Mr. Morix frowned.

"These cold temperatures were below freezing. The body was found inside of a fridge deep underground. It's down the hallway from where we are now, actually," Detective Hayes explained. He got on his toes before looking around. Eventually, he located the door, allowing him pointing at it.

"If that's the case, I suppose we'll have to get in there sooner rather than later to see what's inside. We can't waste too much time. When is the trial going to start?" Mr. Morix asked. "I have a feeling I already know when it's going to be, but I guess I can hope for a little while."

"Your gut instinct is likely correct. It's tomorrow. You know how the legal system is. It seems to want to push cases through as quickly as possible before moving on. I mean, there's nothing we can do about it, but it is a bit frustrating," Detective Erikson replied.

"Well, if that's the case, we shouldn't stick around here. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can start this investigation. Given how little time we have, it might be best to start it sooner rather than later," I said. I didn't like the idea of having such a tight time limit. We had just gotten here, and now, we were finding out we only had a few hours to finish all of our business? It was a tad too constraining for my liking, but I didn't really have any options. That was simply how it was to be a lawyer in this environment.

"Is there anything out here that's particular noteworthy?" Mr. Morix questioned.

"Not really. The main part of the cellar is rather small, and we can't fit everybody inside. We can barely fit a few people in here to investigate, and that place is even tighter than this. If we get in there at the right time, hopefully not many people will be inside, but there's no way to say for sure until we get inside. Apologies in advance to those who don't like tight spaces much, because we aren't going to have much space to move around," Detective Hayes told us.

Mr. Morix sighed. "I guess it can't be helped... Let's go on and get in there. I suppose we should get this over with sooner rather than later. Putting it off is only going to make us more anxious, and that's the last thing we need on such a tight time limit. Come on, Victoria. Let's get right into it," he said. 

I nodded my understanding. "Let's take care of things. We've totally got this under control. I'm sure everything will be fine," I grinned. I hadn't looked at the finer details enough to decide if I was confident in our skills for this case, but it was best to go in with confidence, right? I might as well fake it until I make it.

Detective Erikson nodded as well and gestured for us to follow him through the crowd. Detective Hayes followed him next, with me trailing behind him and Mr. Morix taking up the rear. This room we were in outside the crime scene was tight enough, and if the actual place was even more cramped, I was not going to be looking forward to that at all, but I would have to put up with it as much as I didn't want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going up at 11:30 PM on Thursday oops
> 
> -Digital


	42. Turnabout Below, Part 2

** May 29 **

** Blocker Law Offices **

** 11:30 AM **

** Cotoli Morix **

To put it nicely, the cellar was cramped.

I had never been particularly fond of tight spaces, and the cellar did not make me feel any better. Part of me was ready to throw up, but I didn’t want to make a scene or anything big like that. Instead, I clenched my hands tightly into fists and walked inside, doing my best to focus on the important things around us as opposed to how small the room was.

There was a large refrigerator on one wall. It was wide open, and cold air assaulted us when we got into the room fully. There were countless cabinets around the room, most of them pressed against the wall. They were all painted a sleek black, but the tops were coated with thick dust, and I couldn’t help but cringe at thinking of how horrible it would be to clean this place.

Aside from that, there wasn’t much in the room. There was a body laid out against the floor, but there wasn’t anything suspicious near it. A large bag was left nearby, and the inside of it was covered with blood near the center. There were many police officers gathered around the body, and if I hadn’t been so tall, I wouldn’t have been able to see it. I pointed it out for Victoria, who couldn’t see much around the crowd. She nodded her thanks before we turned to Detective Erikson and Detective Hayes.

“The victim was stabbed in the chest once, and the blow was fatal since it got her in the heart right off the bat. Of course, you already knew that, but I’m sure you didn’t know that the body was originally found inside a bag. If you look at the corpse now, you won’t see it in its original environment. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to look at the body where it was found,” Detective Erikson told us. “After all, it was found standing upright in the fridge. There’s no blood in the fridge because the body was kept in a large plastic bag until the forensics team arrived and pulled it out. It’s something that you wouldn’t expect upon first arriving.”

“Why is there a fridge here?” I asked, frowning. “There has to be a reason for that. I mean, it’s not as if every building has a fridge just sitting underground.”

“Here, there is some evidence that needs to be stored. It’s sometimes required that they are placed in a cold space, and the fridge has adjustable temperatures to allow for the evidence to be kept frozen. The temperature can range greatly, meaning it can go down below freezing. I’m sure that you’re seeing why this is a problem for the forensics team. It’s impossible to determine the time of death when the body was found inside the fridge since it’s difficult to figure out how long it was in there. This leaves us in a bit of a rut,” Detective Erikson told us.

I let out a sigh and shook my head. “Hm... How peculiar,” I murmured. “Who exactly has access to this underground cellar? Surely one of the people who can come down here had to do it. It’s hard to get a body inside of a fridge if the killer doesn’t have access to the cellar to begin with.”

“The one person who has access to the cellar is the owner of the agency... However, she just so happens to be the victim in this case, meaning it’s hard to say who could come down here. When she went missing, the key to the cellar disappeared, and it didn’t resurface until recently. That was how we found the body in the first place,” Detective Erikson replied.

“Where did the key resurface? How did it get here?” Victoria asked eagerly. “I don’t understand... The person who got into the cellar couldn’t have been the victim since the key would have been on her, and unless somebody wanted to make a replica key to get inside, it would be impossible to get in. It’s a locked-room case... Sort of. If you really think about it.”

“The key came around again after the previous case that your agency took on. I’m sure you remember that since you were arrested as the suspect,” Detective Erikson said. “It was the murder of  Cormous  Arme. The key was found on his body after it was taken in for further investigation by the police force.”

“Wait... Cormous?” I questioned, feeling my eyes go wider than saucers. “You can’t be serious. How would he wind up with a key to the cellar? Even when he was alive, he never came here. If he knew the owner of this agency, it would be a different story, but I somehow doubt that’s the case... He was far from being a good person while he was alive, and I simply don’t find it in his nature to get involved with Blocker Law in this way.”

“Regardless of what you would expect, it was on him. It wasn’t found until after the body was taken in for the final examination, which was after the case had ended, but the key was there. Prosecutor Burke was the one who found it on him, as a matter of fact. She had been searching for Dee Fence for months, and she didn’t have a breakthrough until after finding that key. She got down here using the key and opened the fridge, not seeing any other options, but she soon found herself in trouble because she discovered a body inside there by chance,” Detective Erikson told us.

“The body was found in the plastic bag standing up inside the fridge. It wasn’t wide enough for the victim’s body to be placed laying down, so it was leaned up against the wall instead. I wish she hadn’t been found in the fridge though... The time of death is a complete mystery because of this,” Detective Hayes frowned.

“I can see why. When you started explaining that the time of death couldn’t be determined, I wasn’t sure what it could mean. Now, it makes a lot of sense... We aren’t just talking about something recent, like within the past few days. Instead, it’s something much deeper. It’s a matter of what day the victim could have been killed in the past few weeks, if not months, meaning it’s nearly impossible to find without using some sort of outside clue... This certainly doesn’t bode well for us. We need to know when the victim died if we want to find the culprit. Even if the specific time eludes us, the day the victim passed on is vital. I would say that’s one of the most important parts of a murder case,” I sighed, shaking my head.

“I don’t know what we originally expected, but that wasn’t it,” Victoria murmured. “But we can’t give up yet. People are counting on us to find the truth, and we’re going to no matter what. I don’t want anyone to be jailed for a crime they didn’t commit. We’ll just have to power through despite the limited clues until we stumble upon something big.”

“If you’re that determined, then feel free to look around. I had a feeling you would want to figure out the truth, but I’m glad to have assurance. Spend as much time in here as you need. The police won’t mind sharing, and if they give you crap for it, I’ll be able to straighten them out. Don’t worry a bit,” Detective Erikson said.

“Thank you for all your help. We really do appreciate it. I promise we won’t let you down. We’re going to find the truth no matter what, whether we know the time of death or not,” Victoria told him firmly. I could tell that she was trying to hide her nerves, so I nudged her gently and gave her a smile as a silent vote of confidence.

“I have faith in you. If anyone is going to figure out the truth behind this case, it would be you. We don’t have any witnesses at our disposal quite yet since the time of the crime is a mystery, but once we find some, we will send them over to you. Witness testimony is arguably even more important than the time of death. I’ll let you decide which one is valued as higher on your list of importance, but the point is that we don’t have anything yet. If something is discovered, we’ll be sure to tell you immediately. Until then, take your time and look around as much as you need to. We’ll check back in with you sooner or later to hear about what progress you have made in your investigation. Feel free to tell us whatever you learn. We aren’t working with a prosecutor yet since none have been to  assigned  to the case. We’ll tell you when we get an update on that,” Detective Erikson told us.

“Thanks again,” I smiled. “We’ll tell you if we see anything particularly notable.”

Detective Erikson nodded before walking away with Detective Hayes. I turned to Victoria and crossed my arms. “So, where do you think we should start?” I asked. “I want to give you as much of a chance to find your methods on this case. You won’t get anywhere if you’re just following others. It’s important to make your own place in the world instead of living in the shadows of other people.”

Victoria looked around the room for a few moments. “I-I don’t know if I’m really the best person to decide on this... All I really have is my optimism, and I’m not even all that good at remaining positive,” she said. “I do want to figure out how to solve cases on my own though, so... I guess I don’t really have any other options here.”

“I have faith in you. I think you can do it,” I told her. “You deserve to have a bit more faith in yourself. I wouldn’t have brought you into the agency if I didn’t think you had potential. Go on. Look around the room. You can find somewhere to start, and I’m happy to guide you, but I don’t want to give you all the answers. I believe in you.”

Victoria flushed at the sudden praise. “You’re far too kind to me, Mr. Morix... But I’ll be sure to do my best,” she said, nodding firmly to me. She spent another few seconds looking around before pointing to the body. “Let’s see if we can find anything there. Maybe there will be something to point to who the killer is or when the crime took place on the corpse. I’m not exactly fond of rifling through a dead person’s belongings, but I suppose we don’t have any other options.”

I nodded. “That’s a fine place to start,” I agreed. I took her hand gently and started to push through the police officers gently. Victoria followed me, and by some miracle, we managed to reach the body. We sat down next to the corpse to start looking it over. I made sure to stare at the body to ensure I didn’t freak out or lose my mind thinking about how crowded the cellar still was. I silently wished that the police officers would leave and give us a little more space to work with.

“The knife has been removed from her chest,” Victoria remarked. “There’s blood all over her chest, but there’s not any weapon in sight. It’s clear to see that she was stabbed, but what happened to the blade?”

“I bet the forensics team took it. If we ask Detective Erikson about it, he should be able to get us up to speed. I somehow think the knife will help us out since we don’t have much outside of the weapon. No witnesses, no time of death, no clues as to who the killer is... We’ll need to take everything we have and use it to its full potential,” I told her.

“Hm... The knife... Do you think fingerprints are found on the surface? If so, maybe we could use that to find out another suspect. I bet the fingerprints are  pretty old  at this point. I suppose it depends on if the forensics team can pick up on prints from a long time ago. I’m sure we’ll figure something out at some point,” Victoria said. “Hm... I  have to  wonder why someone would want to kill her too. All that we have as far as why Prosecutor Burke was arrested is that she found the body.”

“The corpse was discovered by her since she had the key to the cellar... She found the key by chance and wound up arrested for it. There’s no motive in mind at the moment,” I frowned. “It’s all about a series of coincidences in this case, and that’s how she found herself in jail.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes,” Victoria smiled, though I could tell how nervous she was underneath the surface. “The key might have fingerprints on it as well. It would be hard to say for sure who they belonged to, and there’s a chance they were covered up or erased completely when it passed into Prosecutor Burke’s hands. I don’t think we should count on any prints being discovered on the key.”

“That does make me wonder... Where is the key? I’m sure it was taken in by the police force, but I’m still curious about it. How would anyone know that it went with the cellar door? If it was just a guess, then Polly would have had to be insanely lucky,” I murmured. “That’s one reason we’ll need to go down to the detention center and talk to her, I suppose. We need to know how she  came to the conclusion  that the cellar’s key went with the door. After that, we can ask her if there’s anything else she thinks will be important for our case. She probably knows much better than we do.”

“Until then, let’s explore this place... I don’t see much of anything else on the body, as much as I hate to admit it,” Victoria said. “Next, let’s see what the cabinets around here are about. There must be something in  all of  these drawers. I somehow doubt all of these storage units would be here if they weren’t storing something.”

“If I had to guess, they keep other pieces of evidence here. If the fridge is used to keep some evidence cold, I bet the rest of the evidence is kept in the cabinets... If the key went missing for many months on end, then that would explain where the dust came from. Nothing could get in or out, so it would be impossible to clean everything off,” I told her. 

“I suppose the people who work here at the agency are lucky that they didn’t need anything out of these cabinets... If they did, they would have been in a lot of trouble unless they wanted to call somebody to open the door. I don’t know if they would be focused on something like that though. After all, the leader of their agency went missing, and that would be a much more pressing matter,” Victoria remarked.

“That’s true... I guess they put evidence from old cases in here. Stuff from newer cases is less of an issue since most of the lawyers involved would just keep the evidence in their offices. I still think they’re lucky they didn’t wind up needing anything. If they had, then I’m willing to get this murder would have turned out very different. The body would have been found much sooner, because I doubt people would just leave the fridge alone while looking around. If somebody didn’t deliberately look around, the body would have been found by chance... In a way, I wish they had thought to look around in here sooner, even if it involved calling somebody in to undo the lock. At least then we would have an estimation as to when the victim died,” I murmured.

“There’s no point in thinking about how things could have been in a different situation though. After all, we aren’t in that alternative timeline. It’s time for us to focus on what’s here and now,” Victoria pointed out. “Now, what do you think we should do next? I don’t think we’ll be able to get into any of these cabinets unless they’ve all been unlocked. Even if they have been, I don’t know if we’ll need to search through them. I’m willing to get the police already covered that, and if something out of the ordinary was found in that initial  sweep , Detective Erikson would have told us about it by now.”

“Hm... I’m sure there  has to  be something around here that would indicate as to when the crime took place. All we  have to  do is search in the right areas. Granted, I have no idea what the right areas are, but it wouldn’t hurt to try and look,” I said. “Alright. How about you take one half of the room while I take the other  one?  This place is crowded enough as it is, and I don’t think it’s necessary for us to try and squeeze in and out of the clumps of people together when we could just split up.”

Victoria nodded. “That sounds good to me. I’ll call for you if I find anything suspicious,” she told me.

With that, we both turned and went our separate ways. I looked all over the right half of the room, trying to find something, anything, that would tell us what was going on. However, nothing seemed to stick out. All that I could see were cabinets. They were all impossibly dusty, and I nearly sneezed each time I got too close to one.

Victoria shuffled over to me a few minutes later, sighing sadly and shaking her head. “I couldn’t find anything. I’m unfortunately unsure as to if anything around here exists to tell us when the crime took place. It really hurts me to admit that, but I guess there’s no other option. Maybe it’s time for us to head out and look around. Maybe we’ll be able to find something up in the victim’s office. I’m sure it’s open for investigation,” she suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea,” I nodded. “I don’t see anything else around here that could help us, so we might as well go and see what we can find elsewhere. This is one of the most barren crime scenes I have ever seen... I was thinking about using the dust to find something that was used at the time, but I don’t think that will do us much good.”

“Using the dust?” Victoria echoed, tilting her head to one side with a small frown. “What do you mean by that?”

“There’s dust all over these cabinets. If we could find one cabinet covered with less dust than the others, then we would know it was involved with the crime somehow. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work as well as I was hoping, because there aren’t any cabinets with less dust. All of these were abandoned at the same time, so if one was used in the crime, it would be impossible to tell it apart from the others,” I explained.

“Darn... That would have probably worked if we had gotten lucky, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I suppose all we can do now is head up to the victim’s office to look around there. Maybe we could get some lawyers here to talk about what they saw the day she went missing. I’m willing to bet that she died around the time she went missing, though that’s only a theory at the moment. Regardless, it’s the only lead I can think of us having at the moment, so we might as well follow it,” Victoria told me.

“Of course,” I said. I gestured for her to follow me as I headed towards the door. She trailed after me silently, and we left behind the cellar soon after. I could not have been more relieved to leave that place. It was far too boxed-in and cramped for my liking, and the overwhelming number of police officers in there with us didn’t help the situation at all. Finally, we were going to be back above ground somewhere that didn’t feel like it could suffocate you in an instant.

Victoria and I made our way into the crowded lobby. It was just as loud and aggravating as it had been before, but at least we were getting out of it now. I didn’t exactly need a map in order to find the main office, so I gestured for Victoria to follow me into the elevator before pressing the button for the top floor.

“You sure do know this place well,” Victoria remarked. “How did you know where her office was going to be? Have you come here before?”

“I have, as a matter of fact. It’s been a while since I was last here, but I was friends with the old owner of this agency, Jackson Blocker. He was killed a few years ago, which was when the current owner took over, but I came by here  every once in a while  to talk with him,” I told her. I didn’t even think about explaining how I had met Jackson Blocker. I would have to tell her about Oracle and all the drama that entailed at some point, but I was not looking forward to it. Now wasn’t the time to do so anyways. There were bigger fish to fry.

The elevator let us out at the top floor. “Wow. I never would have expected that... Then again, I suppose there is a lot I don’t yet understand about the agency. I am the newest employee there, and the issues with  Cormous  held off my learning anything for a while,” Victoria said with a small frown.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll figure everything out soon enough, and until then, I’m happy to take things somewhat slowly with you. For  now,  though, it’s time that we went into her office. We have some looking around to do.”

I gestured for Victoria to follow me, and she did so silently. We approached the door to the victim’s office, and I curled my fingers around the doorknob. I pushed the door open soon after. Part of me was nervous about what we would see inside, but I knew there was no other option but to look around. It was going to be odd to go inside and not see Jackson Blocker, as I hadn’t been up here since he had died, but I swallowed my nerves and tried to drown them as we saw the room from the doorway.

The room was incredibly neat, I had to say. Much like the cabinets in the cellar, everything was coated with a layer of dust. It was clear that nobody had been in here in quite some time, and if they had been in the room, they hadn’t disturbed anything along the way. In other words, it would be the perfect place to investigate, and I hoped that it gave us more information than the underground investigation had.

I walked up to the desk and started to look at what was on the surface. There were pens resting in a cup off to the side. A few blank pieces of paper were stacked up neatly. Next to the stack of papers, sitting just in front of the chair behind the desk, was an open planner. It was left open, showing off its differently colored boxes to the ceiling.

Victoria gasped and nudged me with her elbow. “Mr. Morix, look! The planner is opened to February earlier this year! If I had to guess, that’s the last time she was in this office, which means that she disappeared sometime in February. Granted, I’m sure anyone would be able to say that if they knew enough about her disappearance, but... It’s still something. We said that she might have been killed around the time that she went missing, and if that’s the case, she died in February. She was in the fridge for a long time if that’s the case...” she murmured.

“Even if we suggest that, there’s not really any proof. We can think it makes sense all that we want, but without evidence, I somehow doubt that the prosecution is going to want to accept it as the truth. It all depends on who we wind up facing off against. I haven’t heard anything about a prosecutor yet, so I’m willing to guess it’s going to be a mystery up until we go to the courtroom tomorrow,” I said.

“Hm... That’s unfortunate. If we got someone nice, then we could share information with them, but I guess it’s kind of hard to exchange facts with somebody who doesn’t seem to exist yet.” Victoria paused for a moment. “Well, technically, they do exist right now, because we aren’t going to be arguing with a newborn baby, but we haven’t met them, nor have they been assigned yet, so... Oh, I think you know what you mean.”

I let out a small laugh. “I understand fully, don’t worry. I’m hope we’ll be able to talk to the prosecutor before the trial tomorrow, but if not, then it’s not the worst thing in the world. We’ll be fine. I’m sure of it,” I told her. “Now, let’s think about this... Hm... We know that she went missing in February, but we don’t have a specific day. Saying she probably died in February isn’t enough to figure out the time of the crime. We can probably estimate when she died based off the day she disappeared, but that’s not going to be enough. We need hard evidence in order to find victory in this case. Normally, that isn’t a problem, but if we get lucky, we’ll be able to find something... I guess it’s all about if the universe is nice to us now.”

“I wish this wasn’t so dependent on luck, but until we can find out when the crime took place, we don’t have anywhere to go. We can easily find out when she was last seen by people here at the agency, but that only tells us when she could have died. If she went missing in February, we have nearly three months of time to look through when somebody could have killed her, and that’s far too vague. Hard proof or witness  testimony  is all that can help us now, but I don’t know how to find either one,” Victoria sighed.

“Since the police are here investigating, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if we started to look around. Detective Erikson will give us the green light if we ask. First, I think we should check out the planner more. Let’s see if anything important is written on it. If something of import is found, we can use it to try and figure out when she died,” I suggested. I walked around the desk and stood behind the chair to get a better look at the planner sitting before me.

The planner had a few notes jotted down here and there. The victim’s handwriting was incredibly neat, I had to say. I was glad we could read it easily, because it would be awful if we came so close to finding the truth behind when she died but couldn’t due to messy handwriting. 

I scanned the notes before finding one set on February eighth. “Look at this one. It says she needs to meet with a new applicant to work at the agency,” I told Victoria, pointing to it. “I wonder if any of these papers will tell us who that new applicant was. Maybe they killed her for some reason. They could be a suspect if she went missing  around that  time.”

Victoria frowned and started to look around, and her eyes eventually settled upon the stack of paper next to the planner. “Let’s look through these. If it all turns up blank, then that’s fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to check,” she pointed out.

“Sounds good to me,” I agreed. I gently removed the top sheet from the stack before looking at what was under it. I started to pull the pages off one at a time, but they were all blank. A frown was starting to settle in my features when one of the papers turned out to have some writing on the surface.

In fact, there was quite a bit written on it. There were notes here and there around small print in a dignified, businesslike font. I checked what was typed in and let out a small gasp. “This is a resume! Maybe this is for the new person she wanted to hire. Why else would she keep it on her desk?” I asked.

“I don’t see any other resumes in this stack, so it has to be the one,” Victoria said excitedly, her face lighting up. “Let’s see if there’s a name written on it. We have to figure out who it was and talk to them, assuming the police haven’t already done so.”

I nodded and flipped to the front page of the resume. I stared at the collection of letters written up at the top of the paper before reading them out loud. My voice barely came out as louder than a whisper, but it was still loud enough for Victoria to hear. 

“Marcus Moore,” I said softly. “That’s who the potential job applicant was. His name was Marcus Moore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since no more Alitia, this is getting a few Tuesday updates. Woo.
> 
> -Digital


	43. Turnabout Below, Part 3

** May 29 **

** Blocker Law Offices **

** 1 ** ** 2 ** ** :30  ** ** P ** ** M **

** Cotoli Morix **

“I wonder who this Marcus Moore man is... He  has to  be important if his name is written in the victim’s planner, even if it’s just vague. I’m glad that we have a name though. Perhaps it’s time for us to go and talk to Detective Erikson and ask him to help us track this Moore figure. If we can find him, we can figure out what was happening to the victim around the time of her disappearance. For all we know, he could even be responsible for what happened to her, though there’s no proof of that yet,” Victoria said.

“I have to wonder if there is anything else in here that we could use... I certainly don’t see much on the surface of the desk. The victim was neat enough while alive to keep everything that she didn’t find relevant inside the drawers. I can’t say for sure if she thinks nothing else is important, but... I suppose we’ll figure out what is and isn’t important soon enough,” I remarked. “I suppose we can do one final sweep of the room, and if we don’t find anything, we can go and find Detective Erikson.”

“Sounds good to me,” Victoria nodded. “Let’s see how this goes... We won’t know until we take care of it.”

With that said, we started to look around the room. We split up and swept through the room, looking carefully through drawers for anything that stuck out. I had the half of the room with the desk, so I checked to see if there were any clues at all. Nothing seemed to stick out, and I couldn’t help the frown that appeared on my face over time. I still wasn’t seeing anything that we could possibly find useful. I hoped Victoria was having more luck, but I couldn’t tell. She was being silent as well, and I didn’t want to disturb her.

Victoria finally finished and let out a sigh, shaking her head. “I don’t see anything. I was hoping that at least one odd thing would stick out like a sore thumb, but I haven’t spotted any evidence that seems out of place. I guess we can give the police and prosecution some time to look it over again, and if we think we need to check it out again after the fact, then that’s fine,” she said.

I shrugged to myself. “Well, if we’re finished in here, let’s go and see what’s waiting for us. Marcus Moore had better be ready to talk, because he’s not going to have much of a choice. He’s our best bet at figuring out what the victim was up to at the time that she went missing. Plus, he could always wind up being a suspect... I haven’t been keeping up with this place enough since Dee Fence took over, but somebody should be able to tell us what happened with his  interview.  If he got the job, he’ll be easy to access. If not, it still shouldn’t be much of an issue since the police can track him down,” I told her.

Victoria walked to the door and pushed it open. She held the door to the side to allow me to get through, and I thanked her for it. Afterwards, we started our trek back towards the elevator. After heading inside, we pressed the button for the main floor. I prayed that was where Detective Erikson was. I really didn’t want to have to search each individual floor of this building. Blocker Law was far from being small, and I didn’t want to waste more precious time than we had to, especially when clues were in such high demand.

Luckily for us though, he was right by the entrance to the elevator. He was talking with Detective Hayes, and I could see him rubbing the side of his head. If I had to take a guess, I would have said that he had a headache of some sort, and I couldn’t blame him for that. If I had to stay in that crowd for too long, I would start to feel bad after a while as well.

“Detective Erikson?” I asked, tapping him on the shoulder. 

Detective Erikson turned and smiled, though I could tell his grin was weary. It seemed he hated being in this crowded place just as much as I did. “Hello again, Mr.  Morix ... Is there something you need?” he asked.

“I was going to ask you for a favor. We  found something  up in the victim’s office that could point to a potential suspect, and if it’s alright with you, we would like your help in finding out more about them. His name is Marcus Moore. He was set to apply for a job here at Blocker Law around the time we assume the victim went missing back in February. Would you happen to know anything about him?” I questioned.

Detective Erikson paused for a moment before shaking his head. “I actually don’t know for sure... But I can probably go to the police station to find out more. From there, I would be happy to tell you what I learned. If you think it will help to find what happened to the victim, I’ll do it. However, this sort of thing will take time... I can’t pull out the answers here immediately, I’m afraid,” he told us.

“How about you go to the detention center to talk to the suspect?” Detective Hayes suggested. “I don’t think you’ve had the chance to go and see your client, and she needs to know that you’re on the case.”

I nodded my agreement. “You make a good point. How about we go see Polly, Victoria? It would be a good chance to introduce her to you in a setting outside of rivalry,” I said, turning to face her slowly.

Victoria smiled to me. “I would be happy to. It was nice speaking to you, Detective Erikson. I’m glad I got to meet you, Detective Hayes,” she told the pair of investigators.

“Same to you,” Detective Hayes replied, fidgeting with his fingers. He rocked back and forth between the heels and balls of his feet as he stared silently and blankly at the ground.

“I hope that you find success in your talking to the defendant. We’ll do all we can to find the truth behind this Marcus Moore figure, and as soon as we find something, we’ll be sure to tell you. Can you come back here after you’re finished with talking to your client?” Detective Hayes asked.

“Of course. We would be happy to do so if that would be easiest for you,” I told him with a nod. “I’ll see you later.”

Detective Erikson headed for the door first with Detective Hayes trailing behind him. I looked to Victoria and pointed to the door. “Let’s get going. We don’t want to get there and find out that she has another lawyer in mind, though I somehow doubt that will be the case. I believe it’s best to be safe rather than sorry, so there’s not a moment to lose,” I said to Victoria.

“I understand,” Victoria responded. She opened the door and gestured for me to go through first. I thanked her before heading out. She followed me, and we started for the car to go and see Polly. I was eager as could be, both to see her and get some answers.

** May 29 **

** Detention Center **

** 1: ** ** 15 ** **** ** P ** ** M **

** Cotoli Morix **

After we got to the detention center, I pulled up a second chair to sit in front of the glass before claiming it as my seat. Victoria took over the chair that was already in position. We waited in silence for something to change about the room. We had asked for Polly to come and see us, but she hadn’t arrived yet, so all we could do was stare at the door on the other side of the glass quietly. Victoria didn’t dare to say anything since she was too focused on the door.

The door finally creaked open as a guard brought Polly in. Polly thanked him, but I could tell that she was bitter behind her kind façade. In fact, she seemed ready to throw hands until somebody let her out, but for the sake of her reputation and ability to leave, she held herself back. She sat down on the other side of the glass, crossing her arms and glaring sourly at the guard. Polly’s glare came to a screeching halt when she looked up for long enough to see who had come to visit her. “Cotoli,” she said in shock, her rage melting away in an instant. “What are you doing here?”

“Ghastly told me you were in trouble, so I decided to defend you. I’m sorry it took so long to get here. We dropped by the crime scene first. However, there was a break in the investigation that allowed us to come see you, so here we are,” I explained. “How have you been doing?”

Polly hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “I guess I’ve been getting by. Has it been pleasant? Oh, not at all. In fact, I want to punch the wall over and over because I’m locked up in here. I can’t even pursue my minor investigation because I’m stuck in here waiting for everybody to decide I didn’t kill the victim. I don’t know why I would want to kill her. There’s no motive, no set opportunity, none of my fingerprints on the weapon... It makes no sense. Whoever did this must have the brain capacity of a goldfish, because it was quite possibly the most ridiculous decision I have ever been involved with,” she grumbled.

“I understand your upset, but I would like to ask you to calm down for long enough to talk to you about what you know regarding this case,” I told her. “We want to get you out of here as soon as possible, but we can’t exactly do that with how little we know about this case. I’m afraid the investigation hasn’t exactly been going well, and we need your help to figure it out.”

Polly nodded. “Yeah... Sure. I’d be happy to tell you. What is it you need?” she questioned. The rage bubbling beneath the surface was still present, but she was doing a much better job of hiding it now than she had been.

“We heard that you were investigating the disappearance of the victim. If that’s the case, you must know the truth about when she went missing. What happened to her is obvious now, but... We need a starting point if we’re going to figure this out,” Victoria said.

“Alright... She went missing in the middle of February. She disappeared shortly after meeting up with someone for a job interview, according to other people in her agency. She spoke with the applicant, one Marcus Moore, and soon after, she went missing. Nobody saw her again after she left to speak with him a second time. Now, it seems clear that she was killed, but it’s difficult to say for sure if it was Marcus Moore who did it or somebody else,” Polly explained.

“So... You already know about Marcus Moore?” I asked, trying to hide my surprise, though I knew I was failing. “What do you know about him? We just asked Detective Erikson to help us learn more about him, but I would be happy to hear about everything you know before returning to the crime scene to talk to him.”

“Yeah. Other people working at the agency declared that she had met with him for a job interview. In the end, the victim decided not to hire him, and he was not happy about it. The next time she showed her face, she said she was going to be speaking with Marcus Moore once again. Nobody knows what they wound up talking about or what happened to her after the fact. It’s the big mystery surrounding her disappearance. I’m not sure what could have happened, but I can’t exactly find the answer right now anyways. It’s hard to figure out when you’re locked up like an animal in a cage. I want to scream just thinking about what I could be doing but ultimately can’t do because I have to be here,” Polly told us, ending her brief speech on a quiet yet bitter note. “I’m going to pass this onto you, Cotoli. Please, help me figure this out. I don’t want to deal with this anymore if I can’t take care of it myself.”

“I see... I’d be happy to help you out.  On the subject of Marcus Moore , I have to ask... Have you  looked into  him further? Is there anything about him that sticks out?” I questioned.

Polly paused for a moment before frowning. “Here’s the thing... I don’t know. There’s not really a way for me to know. According to most people, Marcus Moore went missing a long time ago. His name only resurfaced for when he appeared to apply for this job, but after he got turned down, it vanished once again. Nobody has seen him since then, and I’ve been trying to find him. He’s trying to hide himself, and it’s immensely frustrating. The only pictures anyone has of him are from years upon years ago. They’re more than a decade old. He was assumed dead until his name came back when he applied for this job. Now that his name has gone back into the void, nobody knows what happened to him. There are too many questions surrounding his existence to find out more,” Polly told us.

“He went missing up until he applied for this job... How strange. I wonder why that is. I can’t imagine why somebody would want to go missing, and if they really wanted to disappear, why come back? Why apply for a job at a law agency after spending so long hiding from the rest of the world?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t understand it either... I  have to  wonder if he has a law degree. If he does, it must be years old. It would be from back before he went missing, which was a long time ago,” Victoria remarked. “Prosecutor Burke, you looked into him. Does he have a law degree? I know it’s an odd thing to ask, but I suppose I have a bad feeling about it.”

Polly paused for a moment. “That’s where things get complicated. Before he disappeared, he had no law degree, but when he resurfaced, he seemed to have one. I  have to  wonder if it was forged to help him get into Blocker Law as a worker. Granted, that’s only a guess, and I have no way of saying for sure if he really faked the degree, but that’s all we have right now,” she replied.

“If he had gone to school during this period where he was gone, surely it would have shown up on a record somewhere. Somebody would be aware that he had resurfaced, and it would be fishy that it was for such a brief time. I think there’s something suspicious going on here. Even if there’s no official evidence of this, can you blame me for thinking like that?” I asked.

“Not at all. It’s all rather odd. Something is up here. Someone would have noticed that he was back, and it would have caused issues, but there are no records about that anywhere. That means he probably faked it, unless he went to school online, but I feel like even if he did, somebody would have noticed it. That certainly would have made waves if people were paying attention. Maybe those involved weren’t aware somehow, but it would have gotten back to the investigators at some point,” Victoria said.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that you guys are ready to call out all of the crap that this case is throwing at us. I don’t like this at all, but what can you do about it? Anyways, the point is that Marcus Moore is fishy. He went missing only to come back with a law degree. If someone had the right resources, they could falsify it. In fact, the chances of that are rather great at this point because of the name on the so-called degree,” Polly told us.

“The name on the degree? What does that mean?” Victoria asked. She paused for a moment before speaking up again. “Well, I know what the name on the degree means, but I have to ask why that’s so important. What has you thinking it’s fake from the name alone? I mean, if you don’t mind answering, but I feel like you would be able to tell us since we’re the ones defending you from murder charges, and you clearly don’t want to get arrested for murder.” She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head, her expression guilty at the confusion she had caused in her lengthy ramblings. “You know what I mean...”

Polly smirked to herself at Victoria’s goofy behavior before shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it. I know what you’re talking about. The name on the degree is one that I do recognize, but only because the person who the name belongs to is no longer alive. He was murdered years ago in a mysterious situation that never got solved. Nobody knows who killed him, but I don’t think that’s the important part here. The point is it could be falsified without anybody having the ability to ask him about it. It would be impossible to verify if the man who supposedly signed it died many years ago. Granted, this is signed before the date of his death, but it could be forged in modern day without anyone asking about it,” she explained.

“Wow... I suppose it would be easy to hide the truth if the person who supposedly signed it passed away. Granted, I’m not sure if this is all true... The falsification, I mean. I wonder if the records surrounding graduation and gaining degrees would be accessible for this case. If we can get into them, we can hopefully learn the truth about if the degree is real. I don’t know if we’ll be allowed to do so though, just given how colleges work. It’s something to keep in the back of our minds. Perhaps we should ask Detective Erikson to check it out. It wouldn’t hurt to ask him about it. I’m sure he would be happy to help,” I murmured. “Is there anything else you want to tell us, Polly? We should be getting back to the crime scene sooner rather than later to talk to Detective Erikson. We don’t want him to be waiting too long for us. If he gives up on meeting with us for the day, our next chance to talk will be after the trial tomorrow.”

“Hm... I’m not sure if anything else comes to mind... Ah! Wait, no, I do have something. I can tell you about what happened when I stumbled upon the body. I feel like that’s something important to keep in mind when going into the trial tomorrow,” Polly said. “Do you want to hear that?”

I nodded. “Of course. That’s important for us to hear about. Go right ahead,” I told her.

“Alright,” Polly agreed. “So, it starts during the previous case. I’m sure you remember that one. I mean, one of you two was arrested for it, so of course you know about it. The body was taken in by the police station for a while since they wanted to look it over one more time. I was there when the body was taken in. A key was found in his pocket, which I  have to  admit, I was not expecting. From there, I started to think about where it could go to, but then I found another thing in the same pocket. It was a note that stated where the key went to. When I realized it was to Blocker Law, I decided I had to go there as soon as I had the chance to do so. I was caught up with doing other things for quite some time, so I didn’t have the opportunity to go there until recently... Very recently.”

“What happened when you finally got to look around?” Victoria asked. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was feeling sick just thinking about this. 

“Well, I headed for the cellar. I used the key to unlock the door. The entire area was covered in dust. I saw the fridge and decided to get closer. I opened the fridge to see what was inside, and I saw the body. It was in a plastic bag leaned up against the side of the fridge. I screamed in surprise, and a few people on the bottom floor came to see what was going on... Wait. No. It was one person who came to see what had happened. She wound up calling the police, and from there, I was arrested since I was the only one at the scene of the crime at the time. Since I discovered the body, I had to be suspicious,” Polly sighed, shaking her head. 

“Did the police have anything else in mind for why you would want to kill the victim? If they arrested you solely based on you being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it should be easy to point out that somebody else could have done it,” I said. “It doesn’t sound like anyone deliberately framed you either. It was just a coincidence that you were arrested for the crime.”

“If you’re thinking about a motive, then your answer would be no. There was nothing found that would give me a motive for committing the crime. As far as I can tell, the police searched for anything that would be suspicious involving me and the victim, but nothing showed up. I was arrested based on chance, but they didn’t seem to want to admit they were wrong. It was hasty, and as far as I can tell, no thought went into it at all. It was kind of pathetic to see from the outside, I must admit,” Polly explained to us.

“Somehow, I’m not particularly surprised. Jumping to conclusions is practically a requirement to get a job these days. I wonder if it’s normal to hire people who think things out so little. Somehow, I feel like it  has to  be given how m uch  stupidity we have to deal with  on a daily basis , but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating,” I sighed. My tone was admittedly dry, but I was too focused on other things to try and sound like I cared about the state of the police force.

“Either way, I guess we’ll just have to put up with it, regardless of how frustrating it is. I mean, I don’t like saying that’s what we have to do, but I’m not exactly seeing any other options,” Polly grumbled with a shake of her head. “I want to know what your strategy is at the moment. You must have some plan in mind for tomorrow, right? I want to hear about it. I mean, it is my neck on the line, so I feel like I have a right to hear about what you’re planning to do when the time comes to show off your fangs in the courtroom.”

“Well, I’m going to start off by asking the prosecution, whoever it may be, about when they think the murder took place. The sooner we know that, the sooner we can find some witnesses from the time of the crime. It’s impossible to poke holes in an alibi if we don’t know when it happened, for example... It could completely clear your name if you have an alibi, but if you don’t, it could cause problems. It’s hard to find a suspect without knowing that time of death. The police probably went for you not only because you discovered the body, but because they thought you were returning to the scene of your crime. They didn’t have anything else to look at, and they chose to jump to conclusions as a result. Instead of putting in effort, they put in whatever they figured would be easiest,” I told her, shaking my head.

“The time of the crime will finish everything off for us... It could put a nail in the coffin or open it enough for me to get out of the suspect’s seat. Then again, it isn’t enough to just say that somebody else did it. You need to get a confession out of them, which is much easier said than done. Either way, I have faith in you, and I trust that you’ll be able to figure it out. If not, then you will have to face my unrestrained wrath, which is  pretty bad  in my opinion,” Polly said. 

I let out a small chuckle and shook my head. “I’m glad to see that being arrested hasn’t dampened your sense of humor at all. You’re just like how you usually are... It’s just that now, people think that you’re bad,” I remarked. “At least some things stay the same no matter what.”

Polly sighed and rolled her eyes, but I could tell there was a playful edge to her actions. I was happy to see that she wasn’t too angry about it. She needed somebody to pull her out of her drab and dreary mindset, and I was happy to be the person to help. “You’re hopeless,” Polly murmured, though I could tell that she really didn’t mind me being that way. Even if I was a mess, I was still a good friend of hers, and that was enough for her. You wouldn’t ever expect us to get along so well given how different our personalities are naturally, but here we were, and I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

“Is there anything else we should be hearing about?” Victoria asked of Polly, keeping us on track. I was glad she was there to balance things out from the goofy moments we had just experienced. I had made a good choice in bringing her on board as part of the agency’s dynamic.

Polly paused for a moment, thinking over the case, before shrugging. “Not that I can think of. You should be getting back to the scene of the crime right now anyways. You don’t want to miss Detective Erikson. He could help you to figure out if that degree was faked, which could be your single lead. You don’t know where Marcus Moore is, but you might want to keep this in mind regardless. It’s better to think about that than run around like headless chickens since there’s nothing else to observe,” she told us.

“Alright... Thank you again for talking to us. I don’t think we’ll have the chance to come back and ask you anything else about the case, so go on and tell us if you have any closing thoughts,” I said. “We’re going to have to jump into looking for information about Marcus Moore as soon as we get back to the crime scene, and that will probably take up the remainder of our day, as much as I hate to say it.”

“I can’t think of anything else... Well, there is one thing, but I feel like you might be able to assume this. The blood on the victim’s chest was dried at the time it was found. I don’t mean frozen here. I mean dried. Whoever put the body in the fridge waited for it to dry up before locking the fridge. I know that’s an odd thing to observe, but if it was frozen, it would have melted by now. That would take time. The culprit would have had to wait until the blood dried before locking the body away, so they would need a few hours to hang around and take care of business,” Polly explained.

“I see... That’s not the observation I was expecting to hear from you, but I suppose you’ve always been the type to look at details. I’m not complaining at all though,” I smiled, letting out a small chuckle.

“I’m a prosecutor. I always  have to  look at the details like that. You should be used to looking at stuff like that too since you’re a lawyer. I only brought that up since I’m not sure if the victim’s body was left at the scene of the crime. It was the primary thing I noticed upon finding the body, and I thought it would be harmless to bring up,” Polly went on.

“I’m happy you did mention it. Thank you,” I told her.

“Don’t worry about it. Go on back to the crime scene. I don’t want to take up too much of your time when the investigation is waiting for you out there,” Polly shrugged. “Until next time we meet.”

I nodded and headed for the door, gesturing for Victoria to follow me. We left the visiting room before leaving the building as a whole. “We heard some pretty important information in there,” I remarked simply.

Victoria nodded. “I agree. I’m happy that we decided to stop by to talk to her. She had a lot of important stuff to tell us about, and I think the Marcus Moore facts were particularly notable. What are we going to do with all of that?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I somehow get the feeling that we’ll be hearing about it soon. However, we need to get to the crime scene first, so let’s set off. The investigation won’t be going on forever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second update this week ya baby
> 
> -Digital


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